The Zhejiang-based Qinshan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co Ltd has signed agreements with engineering and construction supervision companies to expand the Qinshan nuclear project by adding two more reactors.

The Qinshan plant, China's first nuclear base, already has five reactors. There are currently nine in the country in total.

The venture is a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), which last month got government approval to add two new nuclear reactors to the Qinshan plant.

Yesterday in Beijing the venture inked contracts with three subsidiaries of the China Nuclear Engineering Group Corp and two local companies in Shanghai and Zhejiang for infrastructure construction, equipment installation and supervision of the expansion project.

The CNNC has budgeted some 400 billion yuan (US$49.3 billion) to build at least 30 nuclear plants which will produce 4 percent of the country's total electricity generation by 2020.

"The three pacts are the most important agreements reached for nuclear plant expansion and mark a significant development of the Qinshan project," Li Yongjiang, chairman of the venture's board told the signing ceremony yesterday.

The accords involve an investment of 2.5 billion yuan (US$308 million).

The whole project, including buying procurement and designing technology, Li said, cost around 14 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) to 15 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion)

Seventy percent of the two new reactors' components will be supplied by domestic manufacturers.

The Shanghai Electric Group and the Harbin Power Equipment Co are the two main domestic equipment suppliers for the expansion project. The remaining 30 percent of the equipment will come from foreign firms such as Areva and Mitsubishi, Li told China Daily.

The expansion project is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year, with the first new reactor scheduled to go operational in December 2010 and the second 10 months later, a CNNC statement said.

The nation's power consumption is estimated to more than double to 4.6 trillion kilowatt-hours between now and 2020.

(China Daily November 10, 2005)