China to boost nuclear power

BEIJING, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- China is likely to boost its 2020 target nuclear power capacity by 5 percent -- 86 gigawatts -- representing an annual investment of at least $10.6 billion, officials said.

China will approve an additional 10 nuclear power projects as part of the country's 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011-15) due out in the spring, said Zhang Guobao, former director of the National Energy Administration, China Daily reports.

There are 12 nuclear power plants operating in the country, with 25 reactors under construction. Nuclear power accounted for about 2.2 percent of China's electricity generation by the end of 2009.

China, which surpassed the United States in 2009 as the world's biggest consumer of energy, aims to increase the use of non-fossil energy to 15 percent of its primary energy consumption by 2020. The country now relies on coal to generate 70 percent of the country's power.

For its part, China National Nuclear Corp, the country's largest nuclear power company, plans to invest $121.5 billion in nuclear projects by 2020, the newspaper reports.

The company said investment in nuclear power plants will reach $76 billion by 2015, which would bring 40 gigawatts of nuclear energy available to China by 2015, creating a huge market for nuclear equipment, also estimated at $76 billion.

So far, Dongfang Electric, China's largest nuclear equipment manufacturer by market share, has orders worth $6.9 billion and expects that figure to increase this year, the company said in a statement.

Yet, experts say domestic equipment manufacturing is lagging behind China's growing nuclear power industry. Foreign manufacturers account for half of China's nuclear equipment.

"The equipment manufacturing industry will have to catch up if China is to realize its target of 86 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity," said Xiao Xinjian, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute, affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, China Daily reports.

China will also have difficulty keeping up with uranium supplies for its nuclear power sector. The World Nuclear Association says China's demand for uranium is expected to reach 20,000 tons annually by 2020 but the country would be able to produce just 2,400 tons of uranium that year.

Meanwhile, the China Institute of Atomic Energy, often referred to as "the cradle of Chinese nuclear science" intends to boost research efforts to close the gap between China and developed nations in nuclear science, China's state-owned news agency Xinhua said.