Profits of China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. Ltd. (SNPTC) totaled 150 million yuan (21.9 million U.S. dollars) in the first half, 71 percent of the year's target.

This was compared with the 2007 profit of 58.78 million yuan -- 292 percent of its target profit -- after it was founded in May last year.

Total assets hit 6.79 billion yuan by the end of June after one year of sound development, up from a registered capital of 4 billion yuan when it was established, an SNPTC official told Xinhua on Thursday.

The company was co-funded by the State Council, the cabinet, and four state-owned enterprises -- China National Nuclear Corp., China Power Investment Corp., China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp. and China National Technical Import and Export Corp.. It is in charge of using advanced foreign technology and indigenous development.

The establishment of the company was considered "a strategic step in improving national nuclear power system construction and promoting technology independence".

According to the government plan, the country would have an installed nuclear power capacity of 40 million kilowatts by 2020, accounting for 4 percent of the world's total.

In 2007, the company turned over 1.1 billion yuan, accounting for 169 percent of its target.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)