Chinese group offers speedy nuclear plant

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation says the commissioning of new nuclear power could be pushed forward to 2020.

CHINA’s state-owned energy group, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation (CGNPC), said on Friday that the commissioning of new nuclear power could be pushed forward to 2020, instead of the 2023 deadline proposed in the Department of Energy’s second integrated resource plan (IRP2010).



An earlier commissioning of new power will require a quick decision on the nuclear programme.

The IRP2010 makes provision for an additional 9500MW of nuclear power by 2030. According to the plan, which directs the expansion of electricity supply over the next 20 years, new nuclear capacity can come on stream in 2023.



But in a presentation at the d epartment’s hearings on IRP2010, CGNPC said the first new nuclear power plant could come on line in 2020, instead of 2023.

The government is expected to make a decision on the nuclear programme next year once the current IRP process is completed. The government has said that preparatory work must commence more than 12 years before a single watt of power is produced from a new nuclear plant.

This makes commissioning of new capacity by 2020 unlikely.

One of the presenters at Friday’s hearings, Paul White of the Fossil Fuel Foundation, said there was a concern that 12- 13 years was not a "long enough lead time" for the ordering, design, supply, construction and commissioning of a plant.

CGNPC said nuclear power was a practical way to meet SA’s energy demand and was "the most mature and reliable base-load energy option, with the least life-cycle cost".



Paul Eardley-Taylor, head of energy, utilities and infrastructure coverage at Standard Bank , said nuclear providers such as CGNPC and South Korea’s state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation could build nuclear plants at lower engineering, procurement and construction costs.More at:http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=128640