(Yicai Global) Sept. 4 -- China's landmark legislation the Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China (Nuclear Safety Law) will be implemented from Jan. 1.

The 29th Session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee passed the Nuclear Safety Law. This law will come into effect on  Jan. 1, 2018 and will be pivotal in promoting the development of nuclear energy and guaranteeing nuclear safety, Xinhua News Agency reported Sept. 1.

The Nuclear Safety Law comprises 94 articles in eight chapters. It covers policies, principles, a responsibility system and technical and cultural guarantees of nuclear safety. A whole-process and whole-chain supervision and risk prevention and control system regulates site selection, design, construction and operation of nuclear facilities, as well as the security of nuclear materials and radioactive waste.

The law also prescribes the amounts of fines and corresponding penalty measures for violations, and proposes a nuclear damage compensation system. The law enhances the liability of nuclear facility operators, and clarifies it for compensation of personal injury or death, property loss or environmental damage due to nuclear accidents, per a national nuclear damage accountability system.

Nuclear safety is an important component of national security. China is a great power in the world of nuclear energy and utilization of nuclear technology. The nuclear power unit scale ranks the first in the world, and its task of ensuring nuclear safety is of national and international importance.