WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD
作者：By Zhang Shasha
来源：《Beijing Review》2019年第39期

The Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station in south China’s Guangdong Province
        In China， there is a group of people who are collectively known as Gold Man. Like fictional superheroes Iron Man and SpiderMan， they are associated with super power， but instead of being its wielders， they are the guardians and strategists of the super power， w
hich is nuclear energy.
        In the late 1970s， after reform and opening up boosted development and triggered a demand for more energy， China embarked on developing nuclear power. In March 1981， the State Council， the cabinet， said the focus would be to support the national economy and improve people’s lives by developing a diversified energy base.
        The program of building nuclear power reactors started but since there was little knowhow at home， 115 young professionals with some knowledge of nuclear technology were sent to France and Britain in three batches to receive training in designing， building and running nuclear plants.
        The one-year training program cost 1.3 million French francs （$260，000 at the then exchange rate） per participant on average. It was equal to the price of 60 kg of gold. That’s how the group got their name Gold Man.
        Chen Weizhong was one of the Gold Man family. He was 26 at that time and was in th
e second batch who went to France. Since then， he has played a continuous role in the development of nuclear energy in China.
        When Chen went to Xi’an Jiaotong University in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province in 1982， he chose nuclear reactor engineering as his major because of a new development in the country.“At that time， I had no idea which major would have better prospects，” he said.
        The university was admitting 10 students from his province， Guangdong in south Chinareactor technology， that year and half of the reserved seats were for his major. “We heard the government was planning to develop nuclear energy and build nuclear plants，” he said. His high school teacher advised him to go for it.
        When China began to mull developing nu- clear energy， Deng Xiaoping， the chief architect of reform and opening up， suggested importing nuclear plants from France. At that time， however， a French plant cost $4 billion whereas China’s foreign exchange reserves totaled just$167 million.
        So the government decided to build the plants domestically and in 1982， the State Council announced that the first nuclear plant for commercial use on the Chinese mainland would be built in Guangdong.
        Work on the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station， about 55 km north of Hong Kong， started in 1987. It was a prime example of multilateral cooperation. Two investors， Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co.， （currently the China General Nuclear Power Corp. or CGN） and China Light and Power Holdings （CLP） came together to undertake the project. The reactor technology came from a French company， the construction was managed by another French company， and the equipment was British.
        While the CGN and the CLP jointly funded 10 percent （$400 million） of the project， the remaining 90 percent came from foreign loans， making it the biggest project involving foreign investment at that time. About 70 percent of the electricity the plant would generate was to be sold to Hong Kong to earn foreign exchange and repay the loans.
        Chen was assigned to the CGN after graduation in 1986. A year later， when construc
tion of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station started， he heard they may have an opportunity to study abroad. In preparation， the candidates began to take courses in nuclear technology and foreign languages under foreign instructors. Finally， there was a tough screening process and Chen found himself on the final list.
        In France， Chen saw a real nuclear plant for the first time. “Every button on the instrument panels was unfamiliar，” he confessed.
        Each Chinese trainee was assigned to a specific position. Chen was a control room operator. “The training was immensely different from college education in China. We had to learn things on our own and clear our doubts，”he recalled. “I went to work with the French instructors during the day to learn practical operation by observation and inquiry. At night， I had to learn theories， prepare questions for the next day and write reports on what we learned. We also had examinations every two weeks. It was a packed schedule.”
        Language was another big challenge. “I was in an unfamiliar environment where I had to talk with some 20 French people to understand the procedures. There was no one to tur
n to for help，” Chen said.
        When he left for the training， his child was just 6 months old. “It was hard to stay in touch with my family，” he said. “Long-distance calls cost 20 francs （$4） per minute.” He remembers feeding coins one by one into the public phone’s coin slot to keep the conversation with people at home going. “Most families in China did not have telephones， so they had to calculate the time difference between China and France and bother a neighbor， who had a phone.”

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