Initial Industrialization in Nuclear Technology Application Realized

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 23, 2001

Initial Industrialization in Nuclear Technology Application Realized

The nuclear technology application has been initially industrialized in China, with the annual gross production value reaching RMB 15bn yuan, and China's industrialization of nuclear application still leaves much potential to be developed, according to sources from an ongoing Symposium held by China Nuclear Institute November 21 in Wuhan.

Annual gross production value reaching RMB 15bn yuan

The nuclear technology application has been initially industrialized in China, with the annual gross production value reaching RMB 15bn yuan, according to sources from an ongoing Symposium held by China Nuclear Institute November 21 in Wuhan.

300 units engaging in nuclear technology application

Statistics show that China now has some 300 units engaging in nuclear technology application. Of the annual gross production value of RMB15bn yuan, some 4 billion yuan comes from nuclear agriculture, 2.5 billion yuan from radiant chemical production, 2 billion yuan from isotope instrument, 3.5 billion yuan from isotope production, and over 5 billion yuan from �� irradiate production.

Mainly used on three aspects

Experts say the industrialization of nuclear technology application centers mainly on three aspects, nuclear application in medical treatment, including radioactive medicine, therapeutic and diagnostic equipment; co-axial radiant technology applied in industry and in the treatment of environment, such as desulphurization and denitrification to prevent coal-burning smog and in the treatment of sewage and sludge as well.

40 years history

The nuclear technology application has been developed in China for over 40 years. And China has made a big step forward in such fields as radioactive source production, nuclear diagnosis, and container examination since the industrialization began in the late 1990s.

Level and future

At present, China's nuclear technology in general is close by the world level with some technologies elbowed its way into the world advanced level. But compared with developed countries, China's industrialization of nuclear application still leaves much potential to be developed, especially in nuclear medical industry, radiant processing, radiant disinfection and the like, experts said. Department concerned predicted that the annual production values of isotope production, fire alarm production, radiant processing, nuclear agriculture and what not will add up to RMB 140bn yuan by 2010.

World Nuclear Association (WNA)

The World Nuclear Association is the global non-governmental trade organisation concerned with nuclear power generation and all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including mining, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, plant manufacture, transport, and the safe disposition of spent fuel.

Economics Nuclear reactors are expensive to build but relatively cheap to operate. Their economic competitiveness thus depends on keeping construction to schedule so that capital costs do not blow out, and then operating them at reasonably high capacity over many years. By way of contrast, gas-fired power plants are very cheap and quick to build, but relatively very expensive to operate due to the cost of their fuel. With rising gas prices, and due to the high cost of moving coal long distances, nuclear plants are generally competitive with both gas and coal in most parts of the world, and becoming more so.more

By PD Online staff member Huang Ying

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