Westinghouse President and CEO Steve
Tritch (L) shakes hands with Wang Binghua, Chairman of the State Nuclear
Power Technology Corporation of China, during a signing ceremony to build
nuclear power plants at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing July 24,
2007. [Reuters]
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China on Tuesday finalized a
contract with a consortium, led by the US-based Westinghouse Electric Co, to
build four nuclear power reactors in the eastern part of the country.
Neither party revealed the amount involved in the contract but earlier media
reports had estimated it to be $8 billion.
China will use Westinghouse's AP1000 technology to build the four reactors,
two of which will be in Sanmen, Zhejiang Province, and the others in Haiyang,
Shandong Province.
The cooperation between China and the US will be "crucial" in the development
of the country's third generation nuclear power technology, Vice-Premier Zeng
Peiyan said.
"The contract will result in the first-ever use of advanced US nuclear power
technology in China," Westinghouse President and Chief Executive Stephen Tritch
said.
Based on standard Westinghouse pressurized water reactor technology, AP1000
is "the safest, most advanced nuclear power technology in the world". It has
been chosen for at least 12 reactors in the US to be built in the next 10 to 12
years.
The deal is expected to generate at least 5,000 jobs for Westinghouse and its
consortium partners, the company said.
Work on the first reactor is expected to begin in 2009, and it will become
operational in late 2013. The other three are expected to come on line between
2014 and 2015.
Japan's Toshiba took majority control of Westinghouse last October. Two
months later China signed an MOU with the company for the four reactors after it
outbid competitors Areva of France and Atomstroiexport of Russia following a
two-year negotiation process.
Nuclear power is the most important electricity generating method after
thermal power and hydropower in China, and the country has become the
third-largest nuclear power producer in Asia. Only Japan and South Korea
generate more nuclear power.
All nuclear reactors in operation or being constructed in China have employ
the first- or second-generation technology from France, Canada or Russia.
This year the country formed the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC),
which is mainly in charge of developing third-generation nuclear power
technologies. The registered capital of SNPTC is 4 billion yuan ($528.89
million).
The central government will fund 60 percent of the company, and the rest will
come from four large State-owned enterprises, including the country's two
nuclear conglomerates CNNC and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding
Co.