China hopes for broader and deeper international cooperation to exploit nuclear energy resources, which would provide a golden opportunity for nuclear power design, manufacturing and customer service providers around the world.

Sources at the annual Academic Meeting of the China Nuclear Society said that although China's six operating nuclear power stations have a combined installed generating capacity of 8.8 million kilowatts, the amount of electricity only accounts for one percent of the country's total power output.

However, nuclear power generation accounts for 21.9 percent of the total power output in the United States, 33.4 percent in Japan and 77.4 percent in France.

Experts here say that the global nuclear power industry has entered a new growth era. China has set the goal of expanding the installed generating capacity in nuclear power stations to 20 million kilowatts by 2010.

Sources at the meeting disclosed that the Shanghai branch of the National Nuclear Society is conducting a feasibility study for a one-million-kilowatt nuke power station, which is expected to offer good opportunities for Sino-foreign cooperation.

By 2020, nuclear power generation will account for five percent of China's total power output.

However, in order to reach this goal, China needs mammoth investment in nuclear power energy production, utilization technology development and infrastructure construction.

The second-phase construction of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, in east China's Zhejiang Province, has created a new way for maintaining China's independent nuclear power technology development while introducing foreign partnership for its construction.

The Qinshan Nuclear Power Station is the first nuclear power plant designed and constructed independently by China.

In the ongoing construction of four nuclear power plants, China has adopted technology and equipment from France, Russia and Canada. The third-phase project of the Qinshan plant will install two Candu-6 heavy-water nuclear power generating sets each with a capacity of 700,000 kilowatts.

China has substantially improved the independent development and manufacturing ability of its nuclear power generation equipment. The industry's objective within this century is to keep in pace with international advanced technological standards and steadily develop the industry.

With over 40 years of history, China's annual nuclear technology utilization can yield some 15 billion yuan-worth of output value, with a total of 300 companies and institutes involved.

Of the total, nuclear agriculture generates 4 billion yuan and radiation chemical products are worth 2.5 billion yuan.

Although the country's nuclear technology is at the international advanced level, it needs to be further industrialized to bring about profits.

Experts estimate that the output value of nuclear technology utilization will amount to 140 billion yuan in 2010.

(People's Daily November 24,2001)