Photo taken on Dec. 16, 2008 shows an overall view of the construction site of Yangjiang nuclear power plant in Dongping Town, Yangjiang City, south China's Guangdong Province. [Xinhua]

Construction began Tuesday on a nuclear power plant expected to generate 45 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

The Yangjiang nuclear power plant in Dongping Town, Yangjiang City, is being built by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group with an investment of 70 billion yuan (US$10.1 billion).

The plant will have six 1,000-megawatt units with the first unit to begin operations in 2013. All the units will be built by 2017.

The plant will save 16 million tons of coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the most prominent greenhouse gas, by 36 million tons, according to Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday said that "the construction of nuclear power plants was of great importance to safeguard energy security, to sustain a steady economic growth, and to build a resource-saving and environment-friendly society."

The development of China's nuclear power plants has entered a crucial phase, Li said in an instruction.

China plans to develop more nuclear power plants in response to an energy crunch resulting from fast economic growth. The country plans to have 40 million kw of installed nuclear capacity by 2020, which would be 4 percent of projected energy supply, or double the current level.

On Nov. 21, the country began the construction of a nuclear power station in the eastern Fujian Province, with an investment of nearly 100 billion yuan.