China plans to boost development of its nuclear power industry to help meet the country's growing need for electricity as it makes a strategic shift in focus away from coal, an official said Wednesday.
"Nuclear power is going to be an important pillar in the electricity-mix, especially in coastal areas where power demand is high," Zhang Huazhu, vice-minister in charge of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.
The official agency referred to the move as "an important shift in strategy".
China is looking to increase co-operation with other countries experienced in nuclear power generation and with foreign companies involved in the industry, the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) added in a statement.
"Nuclear energy has to be developed rapidly to meet the requirements of economic development and growing demands for energy, and to realise harmonious development of the economy, society and the environment," the CAEA said.
"We are willing to carry out wide co-operation with other countries based on equality and mutual benefit to further promote its development (and) to better serve economic and social development." No financial figures were provided but "China is expected to obtain over four percent of its power supply, or 36 million kilowatts, from nuclear plants by 2020", Zhang said, citing figures first announced last year.
Such an endeavour would require on average at least 30 new reactors over the next 16 years, a diplomatic source familiar with the industry told AFP.
Vying for those multi-billion dollar contracts would be a contingent of foreign companies.
Electricite de France and Framatome ANP of France, Westinghouse Electric Co, owned by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, and Japan's Mitsubishi are already involved in Chinese power projects.
"The issue is that China is asking for the transfer of technology because it's the last time it wants to rely on foreigners to build their power plants," the diplomat said.
China has just nine nuclear power units producing electricity, accounting for only about 1.4 percent of its total power supply compared to an average 16 percent in developed countries.
It relies mainly on coal to fire its power stations but bottlenecks in coal supplies and a lack of overall generating capacity have caused the worst electricity shortages in two decades this summer.
To help meet future power crunches caused by the soaring demands of a rapidly expanding economy, China has embarked on an aggressive plan for the construction of electricity generating plants.
China's cabinet, the State Council, decided in June that nuclear power needed to play a bigger role in the country's electricity needs when it approved a 16-year energy development programme, the first long-term energy policy in almost half of a century. President Hu Jintao and military chief Jiang Zemin clearly signalled their support for nuclear power when they visited an exhibition on China's nuclear industry this week in Beijing.
Analysts said, however, that despite China's bid to clean up its filthy environment by moving away from fossil fuels such as coal, it was overly optimistic.
"Coal is going to be dominant for some time to come," said Dan Millison, an energy specialist with Asia Development Bank.
"On a practical level coal will make up at least 60 percent of China's energy needs for the next 10 to 15 years," he added.
Coal currently powers about 70 percent of China's electricity needs, with hyrdro-power making up about 20 percent and natural gas around two percent.
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