Global Times - Experts: China's installed nuclear power capacity to reach 70 GM by 2020

Experts: China's installed nuclear power capacity to reach 70 GM by 2020

Source: Global Times
[11:08 November 03 2009]
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China's installed nuclear power capacity is expected to reach 70 Gigawatts (GW) by 2020, 75 percent higher than the government's target, estimates the scientists attending the China Energy and Environment Summit Monday.

Pan Ziqiang, director of Science and Technology Committee of the China National Nuclear Corporation and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the end of the summit that the country's installed nuclear power capacity can reach 70 GW by 2020, 200 GW by 2030 and 400 GW by 2050.

Currently, the total installed nuclear power capacity has reached 9.08 GW, and more than 20 GW of installed capacity has been approved by the government and is under construction, and around another 33 GM of installed capacity is in preliminary preparation; the total installed capacity that is running and under construction is more than 60 GM, so Pan believes there should be no problem in achieving 70 GM by 2020.

But he adds, "These are only estimates by scientists, not national plans."

The country planned installed capacity of 40 GW of nuclear power by 2020 and planned to generate 260 billion to 280 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, making up 4 to 6 percent of the country's total. Meanwhile, the installed capacity of nuclear power projects under construction was planned to be 18 GW by 2020.

Vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhang Guobao, said previously that the country was considering whether to raise the target of the original plan due to the global concern on greenhouse gas reduction.

Pan also predicted that China's pace to develop nuclear power will increase as there is more pressure to reduce carbon emissions. On one hand, the nuclear power is most ideal way to reduce carbon emissions at present; on the other hand, nuclear power is easy to transport compared with coal and other materials.

For years, the market has been concerned that there were not enough uranium reserves for generating nuclear power, but Pan pointed out that China is rich in uranium reserves – but about 50 percent of those reserves have not been explored. He said China has enough uranium for nuclear power plants that generate 70 GW of power, though the exact numbers of plants were not revealed.