China has approved a plan to start the third phase of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Jiangsu province from October next year, said a government agency.
According to the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), in this phase, two new reactors, each with a capacity of one gigawatt (GW), will be built.
Once completed, the plant will eventually have eight reactors with a combined capacity of around 8 GW.
The China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), the project’s major shareholder, said the first two reactors at the Tianwan site, which are operational, use Russian technology. Each has a capacity of 1.06 GW.
The Jiangsu Nuclear Power Co., a subsidiary of CNNC, is in final talks with Russia for two more 1.06-GW reactors of the second phase of the plant, the SASAC said.
With its fast growing economy over the last decade, China has been actively strengthening its atomic energy generation capacity as a means of meeting the ever-increasing domestic energy consumption demand.
The government has set a target for nuclear power plants to reach a capacity of 40 GW by 2020.
China's energy plans have given new hope to the global nuclear industry, represented by firms such as Areva of France and US-based Westinghouse, while offering a market for uranium suppliers such as Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton./.