China deploys uranium enrichment centrifuge for industrial use

Beijing: China on Friday announced the successful installation of a domestically produced uranium enrichment centrifuge for industrial use.

The centrifuge was built in a uranium enrichment plant in northwest China`s city of Lanzhou, a statement from the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), the country`s premier nuclear body, said. The installation of the centrifuge marks a strategic accomplishment in terms of safeguarding the sustainable development of China`s nuclear power industry, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying. Uranium centrifuges are necessary to obtain concentrated U235, which is used as fuel for nuclear power plants. Many countries are developing such devices, although few have had success with industrialised production, it said. The CNNC previously said that it invested a total of 1.75 billion yuan (USD 280 million) in independent research and development projects in 2011. The news follows the commissioning of the first phase of 6,000 MW of Hongyanhe nuclear power station in the coastal Liaoning Province. China, which had 15 nuclear power-generating units in operation with a total installed capacity of 12.54 GW, has resumed construction of new nuclear plants last month after a two-year ban on new plants following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. China is currently constructing 26 nuclear reactors to add another 29.24 GW, according to a government white paper on energy policy released in October 2012. PTI