China is working to form a 300-member state-level rescue team specialized in nuclear emergencies, a senior official revealed on May 12.

This team will respond to "serious nuclear accidents in complicated circumstances," said Yao Bin, head of the Nuclear Emergency and Security Division under the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).

They will be tasked with supporting the operators of nuclear facilities to handle contingencies, such as cordoning off radioactive sources during and after nuclear accidents, rescuing trapped people, as well as controlling the spread of contamination and minimizing the damage, said Yao, also deputy head of a national nuclear emergency response office.

The fast-response team will be equipped with the latest devices, and the country will also build a training base for the team.

The SASTIND and the General Staff Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army are working together on the program, which is set to be finished by 2015, according to Yao.

Yao also said that China will hold a national-level nuclear security exercise next year.

Code-named Shield 2015, the exercise will simulate a nuclear material handling process and will be conducted in south China's Guangdong Province due to its long history in civilian nuclear power use, according to a preliminary plan.

It will be the second national-level nuclear security exercise since Shield 2009, which was held in November