A crash program to more than triple the number of nuclear plants in China? With encouragement from the Bush administration? Yeah, that sure sounds safe:

China plans to significantly expand its nuclear power in the coming decades, and the Bush administration has been courting the country's top officials on behalf of American companies seeking a starring role in that expansion.

The United States is competing with France, Russia and, in a minor way, Canada to build four 1,000-megawatt plants that energy executives say will signify China's coming of age as a nuclear energy provider, and offer crucial relief to makers of nuclear technology starved of new orders in their home countries....

The call for tenders may be issued as early as this month, nuclear industry executives said. The winner is likely to have an advantage in subsequent bids for 20 or more nuclear plants that may be built by 2020....

Critics are concerned that China's leap into nuclear power may test its immature and incomplete regulatory system. Mr. [Edwin] Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists said it was not clear how China would ensure that its radioactive materials remained safe, in civilian hands. He said [Westinghouse's] AP1000 design lacked too many traditional safety backups....

Let's see: The Chinese tried to cover up AIDS, SARS, and bird flu. Think a core meltdown in a hastily built nuclear plant is going to give them a sudden fondness for transparency?

And as for the companies trying to win the contracts, remember four little words: These are Cheney's friends.