China has planned to build its first nuclear power plant in the inland areas in Central China`s Hunan Province.

China National Nuclear Corporation, together with China Three Gorges Project Corporation, China Resources Co Ltd and Hunan Xiangtou Holdings Group Co Ltd, inked an agreement Wednesday to build a joint-venture, Hunan Taohua River Nuclear Power Co Ltd, to operate the project.

The plant will be located in Lishanhe Town, Taojiang County of Yiyang City. It has a planned installation capacity of four million kilowatts, half of which will be completed in the first phase of the project.

The plant is expected to the first nuclear power plant built in China`s inland areas.

China`s two major nuclear plants, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, are both situated in the coastal areas.

According to a state nuclear power development plan adopted by the State Council in 2006, China will increase its combined nuclear power capacity to 40,000 megawatts by 2020, a plan that will require about two 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plants to be built each year for the next 15 years.

The second phase of Qinshan was completed in the first half of 2006, which has an installation capacity of 600,000 kilowatts.

China has six nuclear power plants with 11 reactors, all located along its economically thriving east and southeast coasts.

Companies have announced plans to build more plants in the provinces of southeast Fujian, eastern Shandong and central Hunan

Chinese scientists have allowed their counterparts in the United States to start up and control a thermonuclear fusion reactor in eastern Anhui Province.

The test lasted nearly five seconds after scientists with General Atomics USA working in their labs started up the fusion reactor at the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Hefei, provincial capital of Anhui, Wu Songtao, deputy director of the institute, told Xinhua.

"The test has laid a foundation for joint study of fusion reaction with different countries," said Wu, adding that the U.S. scientists were provided with all real-time data during the test.

"We have plan to carry out more such tests in the future and more countries are expected to be involved," said Wu.

Wu`s institute spent eight years and 200 million yuan (25 million U.S. dollars) building the Experimental Advanced Super Tokamak (EAST) fusion reactor, which replicates the energy generating process of the sun.

Unlike traditional nuclear fission reactors, which split atoms to create energy and produce dangerous radioactive waste, the EAST uses nuclear fusion to compress atoms at extremely high temperatures to generate energy that would produce very little pollution.

Scientists theorize that a fully functional fusion reactor would provide cheaper, safer, cleaner and endless energy and reduce the world`s dependence on fossil fuels.

The problem scientists continue to face is that starting a fusion reaction takes more energy than can be produced from the reaction.

The EAST is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, which was initiated by the United States, France and Russia in the 1980s with a purpose of establishing a thermonuclear fusion reactor.

China joined ITER in 2003.

Shanghai plans to spend 800 million yuan (103 million U.S. dollars) to build a wind power plant in a coastal landfill area.

The plant, in an exposed landfill area near the East China Sea, will be built by the Shanghai Environment Group and Shanghai Huadian Electric Power Development Co. Ltd.

The two sides signed an agreement on Tuesday to set up a joint venture, called Shanghai Huagang Wind Power Generation Co., to operate the project. The new company will invest 200 million yuan in the first phase of the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.

The company plans to install 15 1.5-megawatt wind power generators and have a generation capacity of 46.96 million kilowatt-hour a year. It will save 12,000 tons of coal compared with a thermal power station of the same-size.

Landfill operations for the plant, which will cover an area of 40,000 square meters, have now been completed.

The plant is part of Shanghai`s efforts to catch up with other regions in exploiting wind power.

Currently, three small wind farms generate a mere 25 MW of power for Shanghai`s vast energy needs.

"By 2010 the total wind power will be around 300 MW, two percent of the city`s total installed power capacity," said Li Xin, an official with the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission.

China had 62 wind farms in operation with an energy capacity of 1,266 MW at the end of 2005. The government has set a target of 5,000 MW for 2010 and 30,000 MW for 2020, by which time wind power will account for three percent of the country`s total power needs.

BEIJING, Feb. 6 — As the world`s fastest growing economy and the second largest energy consumer, China is looking more to nuclear power for a balanced mix of energy generating methods.

South China`s Guangdong Province plans to have a gross production capacity of 24 gigawatts from nuclear power by the year 2020, according to provincial officials.

Last year Guangdong announced that it has selected 10 new sites for building nuclear power stations, four in western Guangdong, three in the northern region and the rest in eastern Guangdong. The projects are now awaiting central government approval, as preparation work has already begun on some of the sites.

China has become the third-biggest nuclear energy producer in Asia, after Japan and South Korea, according a 2006 BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Nuclear power has become the third important method of electricity generation in China, following coal power and hydropower.

The country`s nine completed nuclear power generating units now account for about 2.3 percent of the total power output of China. The nation plans to increase nuclear generating capacity to 40 gigawatts by 2020, when nuclear power is projected to account for 4 percent of the nation`s total generating capacity.

"China has seen a transition for its nuclear power industry, from appropriate development to accelerated development," said Han Wenke, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Nuclear companies

The State conglomerate for nuclear power, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), is playing an important role in developing the industry.

The company produced 22.68 billion kilowatt-hour of electricity in 2006, said Kang Rixin, the firm`s general manager, adding that it has safely operated its first nuclear power plant, Qinshan, for 15 years.

This year another big project managed by the CNNC, the Tianwan nuclear power plant, will go into commercial use. Located in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, it is the largest cooperative project between China and Russia.

Last year CNNC also signed agreements in four provinces and six cities to develop nuclear projects, said Kang.

"We have signed agreements with Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Hunan provinces to develop nuclear projects, and we also agreed to develop projects in six cities in Hunan, Anhui and Guangdong provinces," said Kang.

Nuclear power is a natural choice for China, Kang said, as it means more balanced development of both the economy and environment.

As the world`s second biggest generator of electric power, China`s uneven geographical distribution of resources causes some difficulties.

"Coal, the main energy source in China, is mostly produced in the northern parts of the country and hydropower is mostly found in the Southwest, but power consumption is concentrated in the coastal regions in the east and south. As a clean energy, nuclear power is a good alternative for China," said Kang.

Apart from CNNC, other companies such as China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co Ltd, and the China Power Investment Corp have also taken an active part in the nation`s nuclear sector.

New technology

Eight of the 11 existing nuclear power generating units in China, either in operation or under construction, have been imported from France, Canada and Russia.

Last year China and the United States signed an agreement which paves the way for U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co to build four nuclear reactors in China.

Under the contract, Westinghouse`s AP1000, a third- generation nuclear technology, will be used for four nuclear reactors, two in Sanmen, East China`s Zhejiang Province, and another two in Yangjiang, South China`s Guangdong Province.

However, China has placed great importance on the development of its own technology to build nuclear reactors. The CNP 1000 technology of CNNC will be used to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors in Fangjiashan, not far from the Qinshan project in East China`s Zhejiang Province.

And China Huaneng Group, the nation`s largest power company, also launched the construction of its first nuclear power plant using high temperature gas-cooled reactors.

Its Shidaowan plant, located in Rongcheng, East China`s Shandong Province, will have an installed capacity of 200 megawatts and require an investment of three billion yuan. Seventy percent of the technology used in the project will be developed by China.

Huaneng has signed an agreement with China Nuclear Engineering & Construction (Group) Corp and Tsinghua University to set up a new company for the operation of the plant.

"The move is an important step for us in the development of China`s nuclear power industry," said Li Xiaopeng, president of Huaneng.