China's Installed Capacity of Nuclear Power to Surpass 40 Gigawatts in 2015

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources China (Beijing, China)--China's installed capacity of nuclear power is expected to surpass 40-gigawatt (GW) in 2015, five years ahead of the original mid- and long-term development objectives, to achieve nuclear power installed capacity of 40 GW in 2020, according to Yuming Xu, the deputy secretary general of China Nuclear Energy Industry Association, on the Seventh Annual China Nuclear Energy Congress 2011, which was held in Beijing on May 12-13, 2011.

China currently has 10 GW of nuclear power in operation, with about 30 GW of nuclear power units under construction. By the end of 2015, China's installed capacity of nuclear power will reach 40 GW, said Xu. During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), China will gradually complete the conversion from import, dissipation and localization of nuclear power technologies. After 2015, China will achieve the objective of building nuclear power units in batches with localized technology.

Early in 2006, the Chinese government worked out the Middle and Long-Term Nuclear Power Development Plan, which proposed that operational nuclear power in China should reach 40 GW, with another 18 GW of nuclear power units under construction in 2020.

At the end of 2010, China had approved the construction of 32 nuclear power units with a total installed capacity of 36.5 GW. In 2010, there were two new nuclear power units commissioned and 27 units under construction, accounting for almost half of the units under construction in the world.

So far, China has 13 nuclear power units with a total installed capacity of 10.8 GW in operation. In 2010, electricity generated from nuclear power accounted for about 2% of the total output in China. According to the latest strategic report on mid- and long-term energy development made by the Chinese government, the installed capacity of nuclear power in China is expected to reach 70 GW, so that the sum of nuclear and renewable energy could reach more than 15% of the total energy consumption in 2020. The installed capacity of nuclear power can be further expanded to 200 GW in 2030 and more than 400 GW in 2050.

In the next five years, China's fixed assets investment in the nuclear power sector will reach more than $10.8 billion per year. From 2015 to 2020, China could complete the construction of another 30 GW of nuclear power units. By 2020, it's possible to expand China's installed capacity of nuclear power to 70 GW, said Xu, making nuclear power one of the major energy sources in China.

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