BEIJING, June 16 (UPI) -- All 13 of China's operating nuclear reactors have passed safety inspections, said China's Vice Environment Minister Li Ganjie.
Inspections of the 27 nuclear power plants under construction are expected to be finished by October, he said.
China froze approvals of new nuclear projects in March, just days after a tsunami triggered a crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.
China's Cabinet, the State Council, called for safety checks on the country's nuclear facilities, including projects under construction, along with a revision of safety standards to ensure the integrity of reactors.
In his most recent announcement Tuesday, Li said China would suspend approvals for new nuclear power plant proposals until a new nuclear safety plan, currently being drafted, is put in place.
The government still hasn't changed its target for 40 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2015, with a goal of 100 reactors by 2020. China's combined annual nuclear capacity is now 10.8 gigawatts.
As the world's biggest consumer of energy, China now relies on coal for more than 70 percent of its energy needs.
Yun Zhou, a postdoctoral fellow in nuclear security at the Harvard Belfer Center, told The New York Times: "With its population, with its economy, China needs to use nuclear power. And it's better for its power security. The key issue is whether it can maintain the safety record."
China has placed a high priority on safety, Yun said, "but if you have 70 or 80 plants, that's a different story."
As for possible disasters in China, Yun was doubtful that the country's nuclear regulatory system had its own research capability, which could hinder it from coming up with adequate solutions. They need to have a plan for earthquake issues, she said.
"Strategically they need to prepare for the worst-case scenario," Yun told the Times.
Last month China announced plans to upgrade emergency procedures for nuclear plants.
"The lesson of Fukushima is that we need to improve emergency procedures, especially coordination among government departments," said Liu Hua, who heads China's nuclear safety and radioactive safety management department under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Nuclear experts have long held concerns about China's handling of radioactive spent fuel, most of which is stored in tanks at the nuclear facilities, as was done at Fukushima.
That nuclear disaster brought to the forefront "the need to take care of these things earlier rather than later," Li Ning, dean of the School of Energy Research at Xiamen University, told The Wall Street Journal.
