China to Begin Construction of Six Nuclear Units This Year, 18 Await Approval

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--"It's expected that China will begin construction on six new nuclear power units in 2010," said Jiashu Tian, the director of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The units are mainly located in Ningde in the Fujian province, Changjiang in the Hainan province and Fangchenggang in the Guangxi region, with a total planned capacity of about 5,300 megawatts.

To date, China has 11 nuclear power units with an installed capacity of 9.08 gigawatts (GW) in operation and 25 nuclear power units with an installed capacity of 15.1 GW under construction. Another 18 units with an installed capacity of about 20.4 GW are awaiting approval, including projects in places such as Tianwan in the Jiangsu province, Sanmen in the Zhejiang province, Haiyang of Shandong province, Taohuajiang in the Hunan province, Xianning in the Hubei province and Nanyang in the Henan province.

Such a boom in nuclear power construction has gone far beyond the national plans to increase nuclear capacity. The total number of nuclear power units in operation, under construction and in planning has reached 60, and the installed capacity of these units has reached about 60 GW, which is 50% higher than the installed capacity planned for 2020 in the Middle and Long-term Development Plan for Nuclear Power (2005-2020), which was issued in 2007.

"For this reason, China is working on the adjustment of the Middle and Long-term Development Plan for Nuclear Power," said Tain. In the coming 10 years, China will begin construction of eight 1-GW nuclear power units every year on average. China's installed capacity of nuclear power will surpass 75 GW in operation and more than 40 GW of units under construction in 2020.

Although the cost of nuclear power generation is higher than thermal power in China, if the localization rate of nuclear power reaches 70%, the cost of nuclear power generation will be reduced to about $31 per megawatt-hour. "Following the increase in the localization rate and the expansion in scale, the cost of nuclear power will be largely reduced," said Tian.

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