Research Report of Chinese Nuclear Power Industry, 2009

The energy demands and energy saving &development of Chinese nuclear power receives wide
emission reduction are the double pressures for theattentions.
fast development of Chinese economy. The nuclear 
power, however, is the most competitive solution toChinese government plans to the installed capacity of
change Chinese energy structures and meet thethe nuclear power in China will reach to 5%, the
energy demands.electrical power production will reach to 8% and the
 installed capacity of the nuclear power exceeds 70
By the end of 2008, total 11 nuclear powermillion kilowatts by 2020. If calculation by the installed
generating sets had been in operation with the totalcapacity of 70 million kilowatts in operation in 2020
installed capacity of 9.07 million kilowatts, accountingand 10 million kilowatts capacity in process, the
for 1.3% of the total installed power capacity. Theinvestments in Chinese nuclear power construction
annual nuclear power production was 68.394 billiontotal 720 billion Yuan (105 billion USD) in 10 years.
KWh, accounting for 2% of the total power 
production in the country.In accordance with the previous experiences, the
 investments for purchasing the nuclear power
The nuclear power production in 19 countries all overequipments account for about 40%. Generally, the
the world accounts for more than 25% of the totalproportion of the investments in nuclear power
power production, including 76.8% in France, 19.4% inequipment, conventional island equipment and the
America and 27.5% in Japan.auxiliary equipment is 6:3:1. According to the 40%
 equipment investments in the total investments, the
Compared with the thermal power, the nuclearinvestments in Chinese nuclear power equipments will
power in China still has no price competitiveness. Onbe about 288 billion Yuan (42 billion USD) from 2009
the one hand, it attributes to the comparatively lowto 2020. The huge investments will provide
price of the coal. The statistics shows that theopportunities for Chinese and international nuclear
investments in the thermal power are about 4power equipment manufacturers.
thousand Yuan (580 USD) per kilowatt, but it needs 
10 thousand Yuan (1.46 thousand USD) per kilowattAt present, the fight of international nuclear power
for the nuclear power, 6 thousand Yuan (880 USD)equipment giants in Chinese market has changed into
differences. On the other hand, it spends more timethe technical route competition. In China, the most
on constructing the nuclear power, which takes aboutdisputable topic is to adopt which generation nuclear
70 months, but the thermal power takes about 30power technology, the second, the semi-second or
months. The expense of the nuclear power and thethe third. If choosing the semi-second technology, it
low exploitation costs and economical usage of theis obvious far behind. But if choosing the third
coal resources lead to long-term dependency ofgeneration technologies, represented by EPR of
Chinese energy system on the thermal power.Framatome and AP1000 of Westinghouse, it is much
 more disputable, because no nuclear power plant has
It needs to realize the production in large scale so asbeen constructed in the world at present, which
to cut down the costs of the nuclear power. Theadopts the third generation technologies. People
performance of the nuclear power equipments is 30highlights the development of the nuclear power, but
years’ longer than that of thermal powerit also faces the technical route choice, the place
equipments and the cost composition makes itchoice of the coastal nuclear power plant shifting to
competitive in the later period. The investments inthe inland.
the nuclear power fixed assets costs 50 to 60 
percent of the total investments or higher, but theIn the beginning of 2009, the Dafan nuclear power
thermal power only accounts for 30 to 40 percent.project in Hubei Xianning had passed through approval
The nuclear fuels cost 20% of the total investments,from Chinese government. Meanwhile, three nuclear
which is 50% or higher for the thermal power.power plants are planning to be constructed in Xishui,
Meanwhile, for the operation costs, the nuclearYangxin and Zhongxiang in Hubei, in which the Xishui
power occupies 15% of the total costs, but 10% fornuclear power projects have submitted the
the thermal power. Because of the giant fuel costsDevelopment and Reform Commission of P.R. of
of the thermal power, the costs of the nuclearChina. Also, the nuclear power project plans in Hunan
power are comparative low after depreciationand Sichuan etc have been on the agenda. The
allowance.nuclear power enclave process in China is gradually
 speeding up and there will be a great mass fervor of
Meanwhile, there is no definite direction for thenuclear power construction.
technical route choice of Chinese nuclear power, 
which is also an important factor affecting the nuclearOn 3rd April, 2009, the two biggest enterprises in
power construction process in China. The presentChinese nuclear power industry, China Nuclear
nuclear power technologies in China, including FrenchEngineering Group CO and Guangdong Nuclear Power
technologies in Dayawan nuclear power plant, RussianHolding Co., Ltd, signed a civil engineering contract of
technologies in Tianwan nuclear power plant and8 nuclear power sets in Jiangsu Yangzhou, which
Canadian technologies in the third phase of Qinshanhave been the largest quantity and the most amount
nuclear power plant, have not formed standardcivil engineering project in Chinese nuclear power
systems for far. The time and costs spent on theconstruction history. In accordance with the
nuclear power technologies and the achievements inagreement, China Nuclear Industry Huaxing
China are far behind those in France, Japan and SouthConstruction Co. Ltd, the affiliated company of China
Korea.Nuclear Engineering Group CO, will undertake the civil
 engineering of 8 nuclear island sets with the contract
Apart from the costs and choice of the technicalamounts exceeding 5 billion Yuan (800 million USD),
route, the fuel supplies and the safety of the nuclearwhich is involved the civil engineering of 8 nuclear
power will also face the challenges. Because of theisland sets in three nuclear power plants, including
limited natural uranium reserves in China and the strictZhejiang Ningde, Guangdong Yangjiang and Guangxi
LAFA supervision over the uranium mine trade,Fangchenggang. 
China’s uranium mine import from Australia and 
Canada etc is involved in the complicated internationalThe huge investments in Chinese nuclear power
political and military relations. Besides, in order toindustry also provide investment opportunities for
guarantee the safety, the construction andChinese and global equipment manufacturers, fuel
operations of the whole nuclear power plant need todealers, construction dealers and operators.
take the power demands, population density and 
hydrogeology into consideration.This report analyzes Chinese nuclear power industry
 from the aspects of government policies, power
From 4-trillion-Yuan (570 billion USD) domesticdemands, supplies, nuclear power equipments, project
demands expansion issued by Chinese government inconstruction and operations. It is of high reference
the end of 2008 to 580-billion-Yuan (84.6 billion USD)values for the investors to be familiar with the
electrical investment plan to cope with thepresent situation of Chinese nuclear power industry
international financial crisis and Adjustment andand master the investment opportunities.
Revitalization Plan of Equipment Manufacture, the