Nation urgently needs clean energy to meet demand, reduce emissions

China will build six to eight nuclear power plants annually for the next five years and operate 110 plants by 2030, a plan analysts believed would meet the urgent need for clean energy.

China will invest 500 billion yuan ($ 78.8 billion) on domestically-developed nuclear power plants, the Beijing-based China Times reported on Thursday.

Zhou Dadi, vice director of the China Energy Research Society, told the Global Times on Thursday that China is capable of building and managing a large number of nuclear power plants.

"After decades of development, China boasts advanced technology and valuable experience to build more nuclear power plants," he added.

According to the China Times, the country plans to increase its electricity generation capacity to 58 gigawatts by 2020, three times the 2014 level. More than 110 nuclear power plants will be put into operation by the end of 2030, exceeding the number of plants in the US.

The Chinese government put the brakes on nuclear power plant approvals after the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011, calling for safety checks on nuclear power plants.

The urgent need for clean energy to meet increasing power demand and reduce carbon dioxide emissions has led to the renewed development of nuclear projects, a nuclear safety expert at a Beijing-based energy cooperation, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Zhou said that China generates only about 2 percent of its total electricity from nuclear power plants, while the average global proportion is 14 percent, adding that China is in a great position to develop its nuclear projects.

He added that using nuclear power could also make China less dependent on imported energy such as gas and oil.

However, the rapid expansion of nuclear power plants has led to safety and public concerns.

He Zuoxiu, a theoretical physicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times that China has yet to implement enough measures to develop safety control technology and facilities for nuclear power plants.

According to He, four countries - the US, Japan, France and former Soviet Union - which have more than 50 nuclear power plants, suffered from nuclear accidents.

He said the government should attach greater importance to other clean energy resources such as wind and hydroelectric power, which are abundant in China, instead of building too many nuclear power plants.

Zhou, on the other hand, said that safety concerns should not stunt the industry. "Due to China's mature nuclear technology and strict safety controls, serious accidents are unlikely to happen," Zhou added.

China's nuclear energy authorities have recently completed studies on 31 nuclear power plants in inland regions, the China Times reported in September.