Beijing, Aug 16: China has decided to build its largest nuclear power plant that can produce six million kilowatts in the southern province of Guangdong at a cost of eight billion us dollars, state media reported today. The construction of the plant will start next year in Yangjiang city, Xinhua news agency said adding the decision was taken after evaluating the result of a recently-concluded project evaluation panel attended by Chinese and foreign nuclear experts.
The project went into the planning stages in the mid-1990s and a feasibility review was launched as early as in 1996 by the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG).
The government of Yangjiang city has agreed to set apart 472,485 square metres of land for the project.
The gross investment in the project will amount to eight billion US dollars and the plant is expected to begin production within 15 to 20 years.
It will have six generators with an installed capacity of six million kilowatts.
Yangjiang is considered an ideal construction site, according to Ouyang Yu and Qiu Dahong, academicians at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xu Damao, academician at the Academy of Engineering of China.
Surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the south China Sea, Yangjiang boasts a favourable geological condition. The academicians said the sea serves as a inexhaustible source of freezing water.
Domestic companies and those from the US, Japan and France have bid to design the plant, the report said.
Bureau Report