In the worldwide backlash against nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima accident, China has stood out for its booming nuclear energy industry. China is now one of the world’s biggest civil nuclear power operators, and will exert stronger impact on the global nuclear market. The expansion of nuclear industry is accompanied by growing risks of nuclear accident damage, therefore pressing for a mature state nuclear safety management system. China passed its first Nuclear Safety Law in 2017, marking its hard work to enhance nuclear safety. However, the country’s nuclear safety awareness as well as policy measure still lags behind world progress. My paper aims to examine how China approaches nuclear safety, focusing respectively on its nuclear administration and legislation systems. I argue that despite the abundant progress achieved in both fields in recent years, various problems persist and perplex the safe development of China’s nuclear industry. On the one hand, the state nuclear administrative system suffers from ineffectiveness and inefficiency as a result of the lack of an independent nuclear safety authority, the fragmentation and overlapping of responsibilities between regulatory bodies, and the complicated government structure and rigid hierarchy. On the other hand, the nuclear safety legislation remains incomplete and immature. I also contend that compared to the administrative system, a reform can and should come more efficiently and effectively in the legal sphere. The state should build a comprehensive and effective nuclear safety legal mechanism by accelerating the legislation process, establishing specialized laws on key issues like nuclear damage compensation, specifying concrete and feasible provisions for each issue, and engaging more with the international nuclear safety legal regime. Keywords: China, civilian nuclear safety, administration, legislation, damage liability.

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