Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 07, 2002
Preliminary Work Begins for China's Sixth Nuclear Plant
China has begun the preliminary work on its sixth nuclear power plant at Sanmen County, in Zhejiang Province on the east coast. The plant is expected to cost 25 billion yuan. Starting from the second quarter of this year, three hills will be leveled to prepare the ground for the plant.
China has begun the preliminary work on its sixth nuclear power plant at Sanmen County, in Zhejiang Province on the east coast.
The building of a 3.14-kilometer road is among the first projects for the Sanmen nuclear plant, which will have four generators each with a capacity of one million kilowatts, official sources said.
The plant is expected to cost 25 billion yuan (3.02 billion US dollars).
Starting from the second quarter of this year, three hills will be leveled to prepare the ground for the plant, the sources said.
China's nuclear facilities
China now has two nuclear facilities in operation -- the Dayawan plant in Guangdong and the Qinshan plant in Zhejiang.
Three others are currently under construction. The Qinshan plant, now in its second phase, the Tianwan plant in Jiangsu Province, and the Ling'ao plant in Guangdong.
China hopes for broader and deeper international cooperation to exploit nuclear energy resources, which would provide a golden opportunity for nuclear power design, manufacturing and customer service providers around the world.
Sources at the annual Academic Meeting of the China Nuclear Society said that although China's six operating nuclear power stations have a combined installed generating capacity of 8.8 million kilowatts, the amount of electricity only accounts for one percent of the country's total power output.
Experts say that the global nuclear power industry has entered a new growth era. China has set the goal of expanding the installed generating capacity in nuclear power stations to 20 million kilowatts by 2010.
By 2020, nuclear power generation will account for five percent of China's total power output.