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First Russian Built Nuclear Power Reactor In China Goes Into Operation
Beijing (AFP) June 19, 2007 Russia's first nuclear reactor in China has finally gone into commercial operation after numerous delays and a second will begin production by year's end, Russian officials said Tuesday. "The Tianwan nuclear power plant is a very big Russian-Chinese project," Ivan Kamenskikh, vice head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency of Russia, told journalists via video phone from Moscow. "Our first reactor has gone into operation, we can't say it happened very quickly, but on the other hand, it didn't take a very long time either. Experts from both nations have overcome a lot of technical issues." The two nations agreed to build the 3.3-billion-dollar pressurised water nuclear plant in eastern China's Jiangsu province in 1997. The second phase of the project, also to include two 1,000 megawatt reactors, is currently under discussion, Kamenskikh said. The number one nuclear reactor at the plant, the 10th to go into commercial operation in China, formally went online on June 2, while the number two reactor is currently undergoing test operations. China plans to have up to 40 gigawatts of installed nuclear power by 2020, meaning that it will need to build around 30 more 1,000 megawatt reactors in the world's fastest-paced nuclear power buildup. China has joined several other nations in seeking to further develop nuclear power, including India, Russia and the United States, partly due to the concerns of global warming, but also to offset its dependency on coal. Western nations like France, the United States and Canada, have competed with Russia for China's nuclear power market, while the nation is also developing its own indigenous industry. "We hope that we can get the go-ahead on the third and fourth reactors (at Tianwan) and start up a new phase of cooperation," Kamenskikh said. "As far as China's plans to install 40 gigawatts, I think our competitiveness is strong, we have succeeded at Tianwan ... so of course we hope to get involved in other projects in China." Sergey Shmatko, president of AtomStroyExport, Russia's exporter of nuclear power plants, the Russian side would supply uranium for the two reactors and a similar arrangement would be negotiated for the next two reactors. "Russia's advantage is that as we build nuclear power plants, we also ensure the supply of nuclear fuel," he said. "If we can secure the third and fourth reactors, we will also seek to reach a deal on the supply of nuclear fuel." The price of uranium has jumped dramatically in recent years as Russia, the United States, China and India all announced long-term nuclear energy that look to greatly boost the demand for nuclear fuel. Joint design plans by Russian and Chinese experts for the next two reactors are to be completed by the end of the year, he said. Shmatko also said Russia was pondering working with China to develop nuclear power plants abroad. "If we can reach an agreement on the third and fourth reactors, we will begin to research the possibility of cooperating with China to build nuclear power plants in third countries," Shmatko said. Egypt has already expressed an interest in both Russian and Chinese nuclear power plants and is seen as a possible recipient of such joint cooperation. "The first and second reactors at Tianwan will enter commercial operation by the end of the year. This is a very big step and provides a very good and important basis for future cooperation," Luo Jianhang, the Russia representative of the China National Nuclear Corp, said. "We still have a lot of work to do, but from what we have done we have a bright future."
Source: Agence France-Presse Email This Article
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US Congress Approves Bill On Global Nuclear Fuel Bank
Washington (RIA Novosti) Jun 20, 2007The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to establish an international nuclear fuel bank in a non-nuclear country in view of Iran's and North Korea's continuing atomic research. The bill follows Russia's initiative to form a global network of nuclear cycle centers as a way to maintain the non-proliferation regime and defuse international tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions. |
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