By Xinhua
Beijing : China’s installed nuclear power capacity is expected to be 60 million kilowatts by 2020, as the construction of nuclear plants are progressing faster than planned, a senior official said here Saturday.
According to China’s nuclear power development plan, the total nuclear power operational capacity is to reach 40 million kilowatts by 2020, accounting for four percent of the country’s power generating capacity, said Zhang Guobao, vice minister in charge of National Development and Reform Commission.
At the end of last year, the Chinese mainland had a total of 11 nuclear power generating units in operation, with combined installed capacity of nearly 10 million kilowatts, Zhang said.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that China produced about 3.28 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2007, which included only 1.9 percent of nuclear power.
At present, thermal power generating units account for 76 percent of the total installed power generating capacity, and produce 84 percent of the country’s electricity.
“It is necessary to increase the share of nuclear power and electricity based on renewal energy”, while trying to reduce the dependence on coal for power generation,” said Zhang.
There has been growing demand for building nuclear power plants in China, he said. Since all the nuclear power plants in China are located in the coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu, other provinces have also demanded nuclear plants in their areas.