china plans more nuclear reactors uranium imp

China Plans More Nuclear Reactors, Uranium Imports (Update2)

By Wang Ying and Winnie Zhu

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's second-biggest energy consumer, plans to add more nuclear-power capacity by 2020, step up uranium imports and explore for the fuel in nations as diverse as Kazakhstan and Niger.

The country's nuclear-power capacity will rise to at least 60 gigawatts by the end of the next decade, Wang Yonggan, secretary of the China Electricity Council, said at the National Nuclear Congress in Beijing today. Overall generation capacity will double to 1,500 gigawatts by then, Wang said.

China is turning to alternative energy sources to cut its reliance on polluting coal, which generates almost 80 percent of the nation's electricity. Atomic power will account for more than 5 percent of total output by 2020, Wang said.

``Five percent is still not high,'' Simon Lee, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd., said from Hong Kong by telephone. ``China, as a country with such high base-load demand, certainly should raise the proportion of nuclear power, which is also more economically viable than coal-fired units.''

China's proven uranium reserves can cover demand until 2030 and it will need to import more uranium to satisfy long-term consumption, Chen Yuehui, deputy general manager of China National Nuclear Corp.'s overseas exploration unit, said in the text of a speech to be delivered at the conference tomorrow.

The country would require 7,000 metric tons of uranium a year to operate 40 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, Xu Yuming, executive director of the China Nuclear Energy Association, said at the conference today.

Exploration

``Overseas uranium will fuel less than one-third of China's nuclear-power plants by 2020,'' Li Jinying, director of planning at China National Nuclear, said on the sidelines of the conference. By then, China's nuclear capacity may even reach 70 gigawatts, Li said, emphasizing that's his personal view.

The nation's nuclear-power plants last year produced 62.9 million megawatt-hours of electricity, up 14 percent from 2006, Li said. That's 2 percent of overall generation.

Proven uranium reserves total 4.74 million tons worldwide, enough for more than 50 years of global consumption. China would consider exploring for uranium in neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, before African nations like Niger, Nigeria and South Africa, Chen said. Canada and Australia are also possibilities but not top-priority areas, Chen said.

China National Nuclear and Shenzhen-based ZTE Energy Co. are setting up uranium mines in Niger, he said. Production is slated to start next year, with annual output to reach 700 tons by 2011. ``The ultimate goal is 1,000 tons,'' Chen said.

Domestic Plants

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co. and China National Nuclear are planning to extract uranium in Kazakhstan, Chen said, with output to reach 500 tons this year and 2,000 tons by 2012.

Sinosteel Corp., China's second-largest iron-ore trader, has signed an agreement with Pepinnini Minerals Ltd. to explore for the fuel in Australia, he also said.

The government has budgeted 450 billion yuan ($65 billion) to build additional nuclear-power reactors in China by 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic planner, said in November. The government has selected 13 sites along the coast to add a capacity of 59.46 gigawatts, the commission said at the time.

China National Nuclear will start building its Sanmen plant in the eastern province of Zhejiang next March, Li said. The plant will be using two reactors from Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric Co.

Inland Facilities

The government has given preliminary approval for the building of China's first inland nuclear-power plants, Yu Zhuoping, technology director of the nuclear unit of electricity distributor China Power Investment Corp., said at the conference.

China National Nuclear will build the Taohuadao plant in the central province of Hunan, China Guangdong Nuclear is to construct one in Daban in neighboring Hubei province, and China Power Investment will establish the Pengze plant in the province of Jiangxi, Yu said. He neither provided a construction schedule nor the cost of investment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Wang Ying in Beijing at [email protected]; Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at [email protected].