China orders nationwide safety checks for nuclear facilities

BEIJING: China has ordered nationwide safety checks on nuclear facilities, weeks after 173 people died in deadly explosions at a Tianjin warehouse in the country's worst industrial disaster in years.

The safety checks will proceed until November to ensure nuclear facilities, nuclear equipment makers and uranium ore mines are free of safety hazards, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement.

The ministry asked firms to conduct self-examinations to "make sure nuclear facilities and equipment are safe and under control", the statement added.

Local environmental authorities have been asked to intensify safety checks, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The order for checks of nuclear facilities came after 173 people were killed in deadly blasts at a Tianjin warehouse storing hazardous chemicals.

China currently has more than 50 nuclear power generating units in operation or under construction.