HANGZHOU, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — The first phase of the Qinshan nuclear power plant, the first Chinese facility of its kind, will add two additional generating units.

Xu Pengfei, deputy general manager of Qinshan Nuclear Power Company of China National Nuclear Power Corporation, said preparation for the construction had been going smoothly.

Two pressurized reactors — the application of the most-sophisticated and widely-accepted nuclear power technology in the world — would be installed at Fangjiashan, Haiyan, on the northern coast of Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang Province, not far from Shanghai. Each generating unit would have an installed capacity of one million kilowatts.

"The expansion will be conducive to a sustainable development of the Qinshan nuclear power plant and will enable the plant to provide the Yangtze River Delta with more nuclear power," Xu said.

A panel of experts have passed a feasibility report on the two planned generating units. The State Environmental Protection Administration approved two other reports involving the environmental impact and location safety over the proposed expansion.

Xu added workers would start to dig holes for housing the two pressurized reactors in the first quarter of 2009. The entire construction would be finished in 2014.

The first phase of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant was the first nuclear power plant on the Chinese mainland built independently by domestic engineers.

Construction of the plant began in 1985. It was built with a 300,000 kilowatt prototype reactor with a lifespan of 30 years. It started generating power in 1991.

The first phase of the plant, which has been suspended from power generation for a change of fuel on Oct. 28, would resume operation in January.

It has so far generated 31 billion kwh of electricity, and produced 9.6 billion yuan (about 1.28 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue and paid 1.8 billion yuan in tax.

The plant also has second and third phases.

Chinese engineers have installed two generating units in the second phase and have been preparing for adding at least two more generating units.

They have also installed two other heavy water reactors as generating units in cooperation with a Canadian company in the third phase.

GUIZHOU, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) — A Chinese energy company in the southwest province of Guizhou is awaiting its first harvest of more than 13,500 hectares of a "diesel tree", which will yield 15,000 tons of biodiesel oil for the energy-thirsty country.

"A green diesel oil field is taking shape in the vast mountain areas, and the oil-rich arbor is expected to become a reliable source of biofuel to meet increasing energy demand in China," saidHe Yuyuan, general manager of Zhongshui Energy Development Co. Ltd., which is based in the land-locked province.

After at least 30,000 tons of Jatroha L fruits ripen next summer, the company will extract their oil, refine it, and sell the biodiesel through the marketing channels of China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), China`s biggest oil refiner and petrochemicals producer, under a cooperation deal.

Jatroha, also known as Barbados nut or physic nut, is a perennial, drought-resistant shrub that produces large oily seeds. The oil can be used in candles, soap and now biofuel. The plant, whose seeds have an oil content of up to 62 percent, can adapt to almost any kind of climate or soil conditions and is considered an ideal way to tame the trend of rock desertification, which affects more than 20 percent of the province.

Zhongshui, a leading electricity supplier in Guizhou Province, has been cultivating the diesel tree in the infertile mountain areas of Luodian and Anlong counties since 2004.

Its new refinery, which cost 50 million yuan (6.75 million U.S. dollars), is scheduled to start operation at the end of this month, producing 20,000 tons of biodiesel every year using food waste and Jatroha L as the primary feed stocks.

With a technology independently developed by Guizhou University, the fuel is expected to meet Europe-IV emission standard, according to tests conducted by the labs of Bosch, Daimler Chrysler AG, Royal Dutch Shell Group and Volkswagen.

So far, more than 108,000 ha. of Jatroha L plants are thriving in the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan, all in southwest China, The total acreage is projected to increase to 1.7 million ha. in 10 years.

The State Forestry Administration (SFA) has reached agreements with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Sinopec, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), and China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp. (COFCO) to develop biofuel demonstration projects in the three provinces and the southernmost island of Hainan.

Experts have estimated that some 2 million ha. of barren land and mountains in the southwest are suitable for the growth of Jatroha L.

China has been raising oil-bearing trees on some 4 million ha. of land in different regions. More could be planted on 57 million ha. of what is now underdeveloped wilderness, the head of the SFA, Jia Zhibang, has said.

The government plans to cultivate 13 million ha. of high-grade bioenergy forest by 2020, which will yield 6 million tons of diesel, which would be enough to fuel an 11-million-kilowatt power plant, according to a forestation plan compiled by SFA.

Chinese officials have said that the country would increase biodiesel output to 200,000 tons by 2010 and 2 million by 2020. There is no exact tally of current biodiesel production, as it involves a handful of small plants.

Further use of grain for ethanol production has been banned in China to ensure that grain remains available for food.

Jatroha L projects have also attracted foreign investors. For example, an American energy company, Becco Biofuel, plans to invest up to 2 billion U.S. dollars in growing 200,000 ha. of Jatroha L and establishing a 400,000-ton biodiesel refinery in Panzhihua City, Sichuan.

India, Uganda and Vietnam have launched experiments in cultivating the tree under sponsorship from Germany and the United Nations.

India hoped to produce 10 million tons of biodiesel a year in 10 years while the United States planned to increase the output of biodiesel to 1.15 million tons by 2010.

Growing "diesel trees" has helped raise farmers` living standards in areas where incomes are low and the land is poor.

More than 10,000 farmers are being employed by the Zhongshui company to plant the crop. Each household is expected to earn up to 30,000 yuan (more than 4,000 U.S. dollars) per hectare as of next year, when the trees began to yield fruit. Growing the more lucrative crop will almost double their family incomes, which have come mainly from corn, rice and vegetables.

A poverty-relief campaign, initiated by the United Nations Development Program, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Commerce last November, will invest 8.585 million U.S. dollars to help farmers cultivating the plant in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan.

BEIJING, Dec. 7 — China Guodian Corp, one of the nation`s five leading power producers, has launched its first nuclear project in East China`s Fujian Province.

Guodian has set up a division to work on the project in Zhangzhou, a coastal city in the southeast of Fujian, a company source told China Daily.

Several 1,000-MW generating units are planned for the plant. They will use the third-generation nuclear power technology AP1000 from Westinghouse, said the source.

"The move will diversify the power resources of Guodian, which is good for the sustainable development of the company," he said, declining to be named.

The nuclear power project is still at an early stage and has not yet received government approval, he said.

Guodian had an installed power capacity of 44,450 MW by the end of 2006. Most of its power plants are thermal and hydro. At the end of last year, the company`s total assets were 188 billion yuan.

China has chosen the AP1000 technology for the country`s four nuclear power reactors - two in Sanmen in Zhejiang and two in Haiyang in Shandong.

In November, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp signed an 8-billion-euro agreement with French nuclear company Areva for the supply of two nuclear reactors - a record deal for the French firm.

Under the deal, Areva will supply two EPRs (European pressurized reactors) for the project in Taishan, Guangdong Province.

All operational nuclear power plants in China are currently located in coastal regions in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong.

The reactors use first- or second-generation technology from France, Canada and Russia.

The country`s largest nuclear company, China National Nuclear Corp, is also developing a nuclear power plant in Fujian.