China's Five-Year Plan Calls for Resumption of Inland Nuclear Power

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources China (Beijing, China)--China has resumed construction of coastal nuclear power stations in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, and construction of inland nuclear power stations will resume under China's five-year plan for 2016-20, National Energy Administration (NEA) Vice Director Wang Yumin said last week.

Yumin said that building safer nuclear facilities is a matter of technology, and that "the third generation of nuclear power is capable of avoiding the problem experienced in Fukushima."

Following the 2011 nuclear plant disaster in Fukushima, China suspended construction of all inland nuclear power stations, which resulted in a sharp slowdown in the nation's nuclear power development. However, more emphasis is being placed on nuclear power development as the country seeks to curb its fossil-fuel derived air pollution.

The NEA said in its "Working Guideline for Energy 2014" that its main tasks this year include resuming approval of key power projects; promoting nuclear power station construction in coastal areas; and protecting existing inland nuclear power sites.

Also, Premier Li Keqiang said in his "Government Working Report" address to the National People's Congress on March 5 that non-fossil-fuel energy, such as nuclear and hydro power, would take a larger share of the country's energy mix as new power projects kick off this year.

Among the inland nuclear power projects that are on hold, the Xianning Dafan Nuclear Power Plant in Hubei, Taohuajiang Nuclear Power Plant in Hunan, and Pengze Nuclear Power Plant in Jiangxi originally were scheduled for commissioning in 2015. Hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent on each of the projects prior to 2011.

Some arguments persist regarding inland nuclear power, but support for such facilities is growing. Public acceptance of nuclear power may take some time, but "certainly we will need to build some inland nuclear power plants in the next five years," the NEA's Yumin said.

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