2016年CRI World's Largest Nuclear Security Center Opens in Beijing

China Atomic Energy Authority head Xu Dazhe says the project will help promote international cooperation and exchanges in nuclear safety.

"We can see that the completion of construction of the world's largest nuclear safety centre-of-excellence 1, with the most advanced equipment, represents progress in China's nuclear safety technology level, and represents our efforts to foster cooperation to further nuclear safety."

The center has been built to provide technical and personnel support for preventing terrorist attacks on nuclear facilities and preventing the theft of nuclear materials.

According to the official, the center is capable of training about 2,000 nuclear security staff for China and other Asia-Pacific nations each year.

It is also able to carry out analysis and assessment 2 of nuclear materials, and technical tests of nuclear facilities.

In order to show the newly developed center can safeguard nuclear safety, experts used test equipment to simulate extreme conditions, such as sand and dust, and even a violent typhoon, that nuclear facilities may face.

Han Yeliang is a senior engineer of the State Nuclear Security Center of China

In a laboratory where walls and ceilings are covered with wave-absorbing materials, the expert tests the nuclear security equipment to see if it can give a stable performance despite interference from electromagnetic waves.

"Now, there are more and more electronic products, and thus the electromagnetic environment is ubiquitous. Therefore it's very important for us to conduct a test to see whether electromagnetic waves can affect nuclear security equipment and make sure the equipment can function normally to guarantee the safety of nuclear devices and materials."

Deng Ge, director of the State Nuclear Security Center of China, says the center will also serve as an educational and training platform for nuclear security staff.

"The center has already conducted a series of international exchanges, training, and cooperation that mainly covers the Asia-Pacific region as well as the United States and Canada. I think cooperation can promote China's nuclear power sector 3 to go global and also play an important role in realizing the 'One Belt One Road' strategy."

China Atomic Energy Authority Deputy Director Wang Yiren explains the responsibilities of the two in the program.

"The United States Department of Energy was responsible for tenders that featured state-of-the-art facilities. China was responsible for the site, construction, operation and management of the center, which will provide nuclear-security education and training, especially for countries in the Asian-Pacific region."

Wang adds the United States has the most nuclear power stations in operation, and China has the largest scale of nuclear power projects. The platform will deepen cooperation in the nuclear sector.

Construction of the center began in 2013.

The center was built by China Atomic Energy Authority and the U.S. Department of Energy.

US energy secretary Earnest Moniz says the establishment of the center shows China's commitment on nuclear safety.

"China is taking very very strong steps and this centre of excellence is in some sense the exclamation 4 point to show that commitment."

The center, which is located in Fangshan District in Beijing, is run and administered by China, while the United States is responsible for providing nuclear-security equipment.

Its operation comes ahead of this year's nuclear security summit, which is to be held this month.

China's President Xi Jinping will attend the summit in Washington.