The Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong Province, south China, will soon become the third commercial nuclear power operating in China, as its owner the Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, has recently signed a contract to supply electricity to the Guangdong Power Group.

Under the contract, the Ling'ao nuclear power plant, situated at Daya Bay near Shenzhen, will supply 13 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year to the provincial power grid, equivalent to one tenth of Guangdong's annual power consumption.

The plant has two generating units, each with an installed capacity of one million kilowatts.

The first generating unit is expected to be in operation in July, the second by March next year.

Construction of the Ling'ao plant started in 1997.

China currently has two nuclear power plants in operation, the Daya Bay plant only one kilometer away from Ling'ao, and the Qinshan plant in Zhejiang Province on the eastern coast.

Other nuclear power projects under construction in China include the second and third phase of the Qinshan plant and the Tianwan plant in Jiangsu.

Preliminary work has also begun on the Sanmen nuclear power plant in Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province, according to earlier media reports.

China plans to increase its installed nuclear power generating capacity to 20 million kilowatts by 2010.

(China Daily June 29, 2002)