China's National Development and Reform Commission, the top national planning agency under the State Council, has recently issued a five-year plan for energy development, in which the construction of nuclear and hydroelectric power stations are accelerated, according to Industrial Info Resources.

According to this Five-Year Plan, nuclear power will account for 0.9 percent of all first-time energy consumption in China, by accelerating construction of several nuclear projects, including: the first phase of Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in the southeastern province of Jiangsu, the Second Phase of the Lingao Nuclear Power Plant, the Yangjiang nuclear project in the southern province of Guangdong, and the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in the southern province of Zhejiang. A project model for the high temperature gas-cooled reactor will receive active support from the government.

The Tianwan Nuclear Power Station is the largest joint project between China and Russia. The first-phase involves two generators with single-unit capacity of 1,060-MW that were put to a trial run last year and will begin commercial operation in the second quarter of 2007.

In February, Areva, a French energy company, reportedly signed a contract with China to build reactors at Yangjiang, while Westinghouse, an American energy company, received two nuclear reactor contracts for Sanmen. The Yangjiang project is scheduled to be put to commercial operation in 2012, while the Sanmen project, with six, 1 million-kW class generator groups in plan, will start construction this year.

In the five-year plan, a number of large scale hydroelectric stations will be constructed on the upper banks of the Yellow River, middle and upper banks of the Yangtze River and its tributaries, Lancang River (also known as the Mekong River) and several other rivers in western China. Industrialization of renewable energy items is also emphasized under the plan, which includes wind power generation, biomass power generation and solar energy.

Source:http://www.pump-zone.com/news.php

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