Shanghai Electric Group (SEG) signed a contract with Qinshan Nuclear Power Station yesterday for the supply of equipment valued at 900 million yuan (US$111 million) for the latter's second-phase expansion project.

The project involves the installation of two 650-megawatt nuclear power generating units that are expected to cost 15 billion yuan (US$1.85 billion), Li Yongjiang, chairman of Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture Co Ltd, said.

The equipment SEG will provide includes conventional island electric generators, nuclear island steam generators, reactor core internals and control rod drive mechanisms.

"This is the first time China is designing and manufacturing 650-megawatt nuclear power generating units using its own technology," SEG Chairman Wang Chengming said.

Equipment will be delivered to the station in 2008 and the expansion project will be completed in 2010.

The station put two 600-megawatt nuclear power generating units into operation in 2004 at a cost of 14.2 billion yuan (US$1.75 billion).

"The units are running smoothly and efficiently," Li said.

The two new 650-megawatt units aim to solve power shortages in east China, Wang said.

China started building nuclear power stations in 1985 with the launch of a project in Zhejiang's Qinshan Town. A 300-megawatt unit was built as part of its first phase, with an investment of 1.7 billion yuan (US$200 million).

Two 700-megawatt units costing about US$2.9 billion were later installed using Canadian technologies. The project was completed in 2003.

Qinshan Nuclear Power Station now has a capacity of 2,900-megawatt generating units, making it China's major nuclear power base.

According to Wang Shoujun, deputy general manager of China Nuclear Industry Group Company, China is actively working toward the development of the nuclear power industry.

"More nuclear power stations will be built by 2020," he said.

Currently, electricity generated by coal accounts for 74 percent of the total power; hydropower 24 percent; and nuclear power 1.6 percent.

China is expected to increase the capacity of its nuclear power generation from the current 8,700 megawatts to 40,000 megawatts in 2020, he added.

"But even then, it will only meet 4 percent of the country's power needs," said Wang Wenda, a senior engineer with the Nuclear Power Office of SEG's Power Generation Group.

This, by proportion, falls far behind France's 78 percent and Japan's 35 percent, he said.

To reach the 4 percent target, China will set up more than 30 1,000-megawatt units by 2020, he said.

"China plans to import the third generation of nuclear power technology needed to step up its power industry," he added.

(China Daily September 8, 2005)