China will hold a national-level nuclear security exercise next year, according to a report from China state news agency Xinhua.

Code-named "Shield 2015," the exercise will simulate a nuclear material handling process and will be conducted in south China’s Guangdong Province due to its long history in civilian nuclear power use, according to a preliminary plan.

It will be the second national-level nuclear security exercise since "Shield 2009," which was held in November 2009 at Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in east China’s Jiangsu Province, Xinhua said.

Yao Bin, vice director of the nuclear emergency response office, said that China will continue to build a nuclear safety-control system, though it has held a decades-long safety record.

Since its drill in 2009, the office has coordinated more than 300 small-scale exercises, Xinhua said.