On April 11, 2021, the Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration reported that another level 0 incident occurred on April 5, resulting in the unexpected release of radioactive gas into the atmosphere. Post-accident investigation calculated the amount of radioactive release to contribute to 0.00044% of annual limit, well within safety parameters.[19]
On June 14, 2021, CNN reported that the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant had a suspected leak, based on a report by Framatome communicated to the United States on June 8.[20]. Said incident is the level 0 incident previously reported on April 11, 2021. Further details provided by Framatome revealed that the issue was build-up of xenon and krypton inert fission gases in the primary circuit of Taishan 1, potentially from a leak in a fuel rod housing. The build-up was described as "known phenomenon" which is well covered in the plant's operating and safety procedures. No radioactive gases has been released to the environment and the EPR reactor design used in Taishan is considered to be one of the safest in use.[21]
On June 15, Japan reported that its radiation monitoring posts, the closest of which is at Yonaguni Island, did not measure any "abnormalities in data".[22]
Li Ning, a nuclear scientist based in the United States, criticized CNN as "making a mountain out of a molehill", explaining that it was unrealistic to expect "zero failure" in the fuel claddings. Li extended the critic to the West media as "often unwilling to put risks into proper perspective", "killing" the Western nuclear industry.[23]
On June 16 2021, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China released a conversation dialog with representative from the National Nuclear Safety Administration. There was estimated 5 out of 60,000 fuel rods (0.01%) in reactor core 1 suffered from cladding defects. The ratio was well within design maximum fault rate of 0.25%. CGN stated there had been no release of radiation from the plant, and the small increase in the level of radioactivity was confined to the primary coolant circuit.[24][25]
