The Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong Province, south China,
will soon become the third commercial nuclear power operating in
China, as its owner the Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, has recently
signed a contract to supply electricity to the Guangdong Power
Group.
Under the contract, the Ling'ao nuclear power plant, situated at
Daya Bay near Shenzhen, will supply 13 billion kilowatt hours of
electricity a year to the provincial power grid, equivalent to one
tenth of Guangdong's annual power consumption.
The plant has two generating units, each with an installed capacity
of one million kilowatts.
The first generating unit is expected to be in operation in July,
the second by March next year.
Construction of the Ling'ao plant started in 1997.
China currently has two nuclear power plants in operation, the Daya
Bay plant only one kilometer away from Ling'ao, and the Qinshan
plant in Zhejiang Province on the eastern coast.
Other nuclear power projects under construction in China include
the second and third phase of the Qinshan plant and the Tianwan
plant in Jiangsu.
Preliminary work has also begun on the Sanmen nuclear power plant
in Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province, according to earlier media
reports.
China plans to increase its installed nuclear power generating
capacity to 20 million kilowatts by 2010.
(China
Daily June 29, 2002)