BEIJING - To
help meet the country's growing demand for
electricity, China will boost nuclear-power
generation by opening the industry to private and
foreign investors.
China's draft
nuclear-energy law is being revised so that
domestic and foreign companies can invest in the
country's nuclear-power-generating projects but
cannot hold a controlling stake, said Wang Yiren,
a senior official with the State Commission of
Science and Technology for National Defense
Industry.
According to China's longer-term
development plan for the nuclear
power industry, capacity will
increase to 40 million kilowatts in 2020, with
construction work beginning on at least three
nuclear power-generating units in each of the
coming 10 years.
Currently, there are 10
commercial nuclear power-generating units
operational in China, including the No 1 unit at
the Tianwan nuclear power station in eastern
China's Jiangsu province, which came on stream on
May 17. Their combined installed capacity stands
at 8 million kilowatts.
The other nine
units include Qinshan, Dayawan, and Phase 2 and
Phase 3 of Qinshan and Lingao. Four units are
being built for the second phase of the Lingao
project in southern China's Guangdong province and
the second phase of the Qinshan project in eastern
China's Zhejiang province.
According to
Wang, China's nuclear industry generated 54.8
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity last year,
less than 2% of the nation's total. The government
wants the nuclear industry to contribute 4% of the
nation's energy needs by 2020.
Wang said
the government has strict controls on prospecting
and mining of uranium ore but allows foreign
experts to assist Chinese geological authorities
in their prospecting efforts.
China now
has more than 300 research institutions and
production firms devoted to nuclear technology,
employing about 50,000 people.
In general,
China's electricity output is expected to grow by
14% year on year in the first half of 2007, but
demand continues to outrun supply in some areas,
according to the nation's top economic planner.
Power output will reach 1.45 trillion
kilowatt-hours between January and June, said a
report released by the Economy Operation
Department of the National Development and
Research Commission (NDRC).
The output
increase will help meet surging power demand in
the world's second-largest energy consumer, but
power crunches continue to affect such provinces
as Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hainan, Shanxi and
Liaoning, said the NDRC.
Earlier Xinhua
News Agency reported that the bustling southern
province of Guangdong was facing major electricity
shortages for the fifth summer in a row.
"In April, we were short of 4 million
kilowatt-hours of power, far above the 2.55
[million] to 3.69 million kilowatt-hours
predicted," said an official in charge of
electricity-resources management.
China
generated 701 billion kilowatt-hours of
electricity in the first quarter of the year. The
output represented an increase of 15.5% from a
year ago, 4.4 percentage points higher than the
same period last year, according to the report.
Electricity used by industry grew 17% in
the first three months, said the report, adding
that industrial power consumption accounted for
76% of the nation's total power consumption, up
3.4 percentage points from 2000.
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