Inland nuclear power plant planned for China

04 March 2008

[Xinhua, 4 March] China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG) and the Hubei provincial government have reportedly signed an agreement to construct China's first inland nuclear power plant. The plant would be located in Xianning City. CGNPG declined to reveal the investment and scale of the project, as well as when construction would start. There are currently 11 nuclear power reactors with a combined capacity of 8587 MWe in operation along China's eastern coast. Five nuclear power reactors are currently under construction in China. The Chinese government plans to increase nuclear generating capacity to 40 GWe by 2020, with a further 18 GWe nuclear being under construction then, requiring an average of 2 GWe per year being added. In May 2007 the National Development and Reform Commission announced that its target for nuclear generation capacity in 2030 was 160 GWe. China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) has pointed out that there is room for 30 GWe of further capacity by 2020 in coastal areas and maybe more inland.