Construction will begin in September on two concrete bunkers
that will house the core of a nuclear power plant near Dalian, a
port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province.
The China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Holdings Co. Ltd
(CGNPG), one of the developers, said a panel of more than 200
specialists examined and approved a feasibility study for the
project at a meeting held in Dalian last weekend. The approval
paves the way for the start of construction on the nuclear power
plant located in Wafangdian, 104 km north of Dalian.
The feasibility study, completed by Shenzhen Engineering Designs
Co. Ltd. of CGNPG, looked at the designs of the four reactors to be
installed at the nuclear power plant.
The approval panel was convened by State Electric Planning and
Designing Institute. Present at the meeting were experts from the
Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National
Defense, the State Environmental Protection Administration and the
State Power Grid.
The excavation of the foundations for the reactors has also
passed inspection, which was organized by the National Nuclear
Safety Administration, a subsidiary of the State Environmental
Protection Administration.
The power station will have six generating units, each with an
installed capacity of one million kilowatts.
It will be the first nuclear power plant in northeast China with
the first phase coming on line by 2012.
The project, approved by the National Development and Reform
Commission last April, will cost 23 billion yuan (US$2.88 billion),
which will be shared by the China Power Investment Corporation,
CGNPG, and two Liaoning companies.
The Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. has been set up to
oversee construction and manage the operation of the plant.
The power plant is expected to play an important role in efforts
to rejuvenate China's old industrial northeast.
The government plans to increase the country's nuclear power
capacity to 40 million kilowatts by 2020, to account for four
percent of the country's total electric power, according to
information from the National Development and Reform
Commission.
(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2007)