China's Dayawan Power Plant has won four of the six awards at the annual nuclear plant safety competition held by France's EDF. It's not only the best ever performance by a Chinese company, but the first time for this 13-year-old contest to have one power plant garnering so many titles at once.

The awards won by Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant mostly centered on two key words: safety and efficiency.

The operator of the plant recalls his experience of being on the podium, saying "Thank you" four times.

"Everyone was shocked by Dayawan's figures, especially for repairs and maintenance," said Liu Changshen, General Manager of Dayawan Nuclear Power Company. "We stood at 19.7 days last year. France has many reactors - their record is more than 23. Second is our non-stop operation - all our reactors are in use simultaneously for 6 months, so overall its 3,000 days. Those figures thrilled our peers. I'm even more excited."

Dayawan won the title of guaranteeing the facility's safety. It is highly recognized for its advanced 'automatic shutdown' system.

Those safety measures also contribute to the efficiency of the plant.

"The most rewarding parameter is 'active factors.' It is measured by the hours in which electricity is generated divided by all hours in a whole year," Liu said. "For us except for days of maintenance and such like days when a typhoon hits, and reserve for holidays, we normally operate on full scale. We could reach 90 percent, which is quite high. "

The Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant also stands out from the other 63 reactors as its staff are exposed to a minimal amount of radiation - only 0.8 millisieverts. That's equivalent to the exposure of one out of 400 people when having an X-ray.

But the manager also said there's room for improvement on the sorting of nuclear waste and innovation.

(CNTV.cn April 8, 2011)