Nuclear decision-making in Hong Kong: A background paper

Abstract

Nuclear power has played an important role in Hong Kong’s energy management system since the 1990s when the city began to import nuclear power from neigbouring Guangdong province. The energy source has attracted intensive public attention in Hong Kong in recent years following the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011. The government’s proposal to increase the use of nuclear power from the current 23% to 50% by 2020 – a major energy policy change which was announced in September 2010, only six months before the Fukushima accident took place – has become a subject of debate. It is in this context that this background paper offers some initial analysis of the key issues of public concern on nuclear power, the trends in, and effectiveness of, public engagement as a way to improve nuclear power decision-making in Hong Kong since 1980s to 2012.