China's latest new reactor

China's latest new reactor

Concrete pouring cranes arc over the ceremony (Image: CGNPC)

A ceremony last week saw the official start of work on Ningde 3, the 21st nuclear project underway in China.

The reactor joined two others at Ningde as officially under construction    on 8 January, while approval for unit 4 as the last of Phase I build was signed off by officials at the same time.

Addressing 500 people at the 'first concrete' ceremony, general manager of the Ningde Nuclear Power Company Li Yinong said the power plant would avoid the use of 12 million tonnes of coal per year. He said this equates to a saving of 27 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, compared to using the fossil fuel.

Li's firm is a project company to manage the construction and later operate the reactors. It is 51% owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company with Datang International Power Generation and Fujian Coal Group taking the balance of equity.

All four Ningde units are of the CPR1000 design of pressurized water reactor, which produces 1080 MWe. Work on unit 1 started in February 2008 and has now reached the point of containment dome installation. Unit 2 began in November 2008 and was said to be at the peak of works. The construction of unit 4 is to start in mid-July this year. They will all come online between late 2012 and 2015.

With the addition of two reactors in Phase II, six reactors are eventually for the site, which spans three islands near Fuding city in Fujian province.

China's drive for localisation of nuclear technology has reached a new peak with this project, CGNPC reported. Some 80% of components for Ningde 3 will be sourced from Chinese suppliers, including for the first time the entire digital control system.

Medvedev to push modernization, energy goals on China visit

Medvedev to push modernization, energy goals on China visit
by Staff Writers Moscow (AFP) Sept 24, 2010 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will travel to China on Sunday to expand economic ties with the world's largest energy consumer and try to engage Beijing in a range of business and trade projects. With a large business delegation in tow, Medvedev will travel to China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao, his second trip to the country since assuming office in 2008.
The packed agenda of his three-day trip will include visits to Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian, a port in northeast China which was under Russian control at the turn of the 20th century.
Relations between Moscow and Beijing -- once bitter foes during the Cold War -- have a turbulent history.
The two nations position themselves as counterweights to US global dominance and the Kremlin likes to call its ties with Beijing a "strategic partnership." But Moscow has been watching China's formidable economic might with a mixture of awe and uneasiness.
A key sticking point in ties is that Russian energy supplies still account for the bulk of economic cooperation, analysts say.
The Kremlin, on a mission to modernize Russia's hydrocarbon-dependent economy, wants more Chinese investments and know-how, while Beijing is in no rush to commit, they say.
"Russia has been increasing its energy and materials supply but China bought little else," said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib investment bank.
"Medvedev will undoubtedly push for Chinese support for his modernization programme and will try to get a commitment from the government to encourage its major corporations to increase investment in the Russian economy and especially outside of extractive industries."
Russia and China jointly run only three industrial parks, said Sergei Luzyanin, deputy director of the Far East Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"That's a drop in the ocean, of course. It's clear that you need hundreds of them."
"Russia, of course, is trying to entice large investment capital but it is not coming so far."
Energy is also expected to be a major focus of the talks.
"A whole set of documents (to be signed) is related to expanding cooperation in the oil and gas sphere," Medvedev's top foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.
Russia is keen to diversify its energy supplies and has been in talks with China, the world's largest energy consumer, over gas deliveries.
With pricing remaining a major issue, those talks have dragged on for several years and Russia's powerful prime minister Vladimir Putin travelled to Beijing last October to try to push the talks forward.
Russia's energy czar and Putin's deputy, Igor Sechin, travelled to China earlier this month to lay the groundwork for Medvedev's trip.
During Sechin's visit, Russia and China announced plans to jointly build a 5-billion-dollar oil refinery in the port city of Tianjin and a network of at least 500 petrol stations in the country.
Last year, Moscow and Beijing agreed a 20-year deal to pump Russian oil to China in return for 25 billion dollars in loans.
After talks with top officials in Beijing, Medvedev will travel to Shanghai for Russia Day at World Expo.
Medvedev will kick off his China trip with a visit to Dalian, where he will visit a memorial to Soviet Union war dead.
Known in Russian as "Dalny" (remote), Dalian came under Moscow's control at the turn of the century and was the scene of a major clash between Russian and Japanese forces in the 1904-05 war known as the battle of Port Arthur.
Medvedev will visit the city at a time when China is entangled in a bitter territorial dispute with Japan. Some analysts have said Beijing may try to secure Russia's support in the diplomatic conflict.
Prikhodko said the Dalian trip had been in the works for a year and was intended as a "pro-Russian and not an anti-Japanese gesture."
Top billionaires including Viktor Vekselberg and Oleg Deripaska are set to follow Medvedev to China.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Medvedev in China to expand economic ties (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• China, Russian ties 'sealed by blood' - Medvedev (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• Russia Wants to Supply All of China's Gas Needs (nytimes.com)
• Medvedev Visits China for Talks (online.wsj.com)
• Moscow, Beijing co-ordinate efforts on international arena (rt.com)
• Medvedev seeks hi-tech partnership in China (rt.com)

US needs to consider China in New START discussions Discussion of the U.S.-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty — aka New START — has so far pretty much skipped one very important consideration: China.

n the run-up to last week's committee vote to send the treaty to the floor for ratification this fall, U.S. senators quite rightly debated whether New START overly restrains U.S. missile-defense options, has weak verification procedures, cuts too many U.S. missiles or warheads (relative to Russian reductions) or might affect nuclear North Korea and near-nuclear Iran.
But lawmakers haven't yet fully faced the problem that, as we build down our strategic nuclear forces (by some 20 percent under New START) in the White House's hopes that others will disarm, China is involved in a strategic buildup.
So, before there's any final vote on an arms-control pact that would endure for the next 10 years, it'd be wise to give some thought to Beijing's burgeoning bevy of bombs.
While the exact shape of China's grand ambitions may not be clear, there's little question they exist. Few would dispute that Beijing wouldn't mind taking the head seat at the table of global powers, now occupied by Washington.
As such, China has been growing all aspects of its national power: political, economic and military. Nor is the last limited to a break-neck conventional buildup; its strategic forces are booming, too.
China long relied on a small, land-based nuclear force of ICBMs in fixed silos and on a limited number of road-mobile missiles, providing for a “sufficient and effective” deterrence in Beijing's eyes.
But the force has started getting bigger, better and badder. For instance, while the U.S. strategic arsenal desperately needs updating, Chinese nuclear forces are being modernized across the board.
And China's warhead numbers are up, by some estimates even doubling in recent years. The Pentagon says Beijing may now be able to put multiple nukes on a single, newly developed, road-mobile missile.
Indeed, if any country can undertake a so-called “rush to [nuclear] parity” with the United States and Russia, it's China, especially considering its aspirations, wealth and willingness to lavish largesse on its armed forces.
Basically, Beijing could become a nuclear peer competitor of Washington and Moscow in the not too distant future, in light of the expected arms cuts under New START.
 More at http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/peter-brookes/2010/09/23/273634/US-needs.htm

China Rushes To Build Its Own High-Tech Military

China has increased its military budget in the past year by nearly 18 per cent in 2009. (Reuters: stringer Shanghai)

China Builds Its Own High-Tech Military -- Washington Times

BEIJING | China's military is nearly self-sufficient in building advanced weaponry following decades of importing aircraft, ships, submarines and missile technology, mainly from Russia, and the capability is raising new fears of Chinese military hegemony in Asia and arms exports to rogue states.

New capabilities to produce high-tech arms means defense policymakers in the Asia Pacific and in Washington are being forced to adjust their strategies for dealing with the emerging power of the communist nation's military forces over the next three to five years, according to defense analysts in the West and Asia.

Read more ....

China nuclear firm unveils huge investment plan

by Staff Writers Beijing (AFP) Sept 21, 2010 China's main nuclear power company plans to invest nearly 120 billion dollars to expand its business over the next decade, state media said Tuesday, amid efforts to boost renewable energy sources. To fund the 800-billion-yuan spending spree, state-run China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) intends to list its subsidiary, CNNC Nuclear Power Co Ltd, the China Daily said, citing senior officials from both companies.
"We plan to rope in strategic investors by the end of this year," said Chen Hua, president of CNNC Nuclear Power Co Ltd.
"Our company will get ready for listing in the first half of next year," Chen said, without specifying which stock market it was targeting.
A separate report on Tuesday said CNNC was in talks with Pakistan to build a one-gigawatt nuclear power plant in the South Asian country.
CNNC, which has already helped Pakistan build a civilian reactor at Chashma in Punjab province, is already finishing a second one there and has agreed contracts to build two others.
"Both sides are in discussions over the CNNC exporting a one-gigawatt nuclear plant to Pakistan," company vice president Qiu Jiangang was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.
Officials at CNNC had no immediate comment when contacted by AFP.
Beijing has stepped up investment in nuclear power in an effort to slash carbon emissions and reduce the nation's heavy reliance on coal, which accounts for 70 percent of its power needs but is highly polluting.
The world's second-largest economy, which outpaced Japan in the second quarter, aims to get 15 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, said late last year that China had 11 nuclear power reactors in operation with a capacity of 9.1 gigawatts.
China aims to increase nuclear power capacity to 70-80 gigawatts by 2020, accounting for about five percent of the country's total installed power capacity, the report said, citing unidentified industry sources.
The government said previously the target was 40 gigawatts.

China’s Power Generation Capacity Surpasses 900 Million Kilowatts

Sept. 20 – With the second phase of Guangdong’s Ling’ao Nuclear Power Plant becoming operational on Monday, China’s installed power generation capacity now exceeds 900 million kilowatts – nearly double its 2005 capacity.
“Starting from a weak basis, we have explored a path of healthy development for the country’s electricity industry,” Zhang Ping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said during a nuclear power development forum in Beijing.
China’s electricity capacity is growing at an incredible rate and has come a long way from the 1.85 million kilowatts running the country when it was founded in 1949. It took nearly 40 years for China to hit 100 million kilowatts in 1987, but then went on to hit 500 million in relatively quick fashion 18 years later in 2005.
While the growth is impressive, China admits that it still relies too heavily on highly polluting coal-fired power stations to generate its electricity. About 675 million kilowatts of the country’s 900 million kilowatts of power generation capacity are a result of such methods, but Zhang said that China will continue to transform the growth pattern of the electricity industry and further facilitate its restructuring by producing more clean energy.
Presently, China generates 10 million kilowatts of its power generation capacity through six nuclear power plants, but Zhang said that the country will raise its nuclear power capacity to 60 million kilowatts by 2020.
China is also the world’s leader in hydro power capacity, generating about 200 million kilowatts. The country maintains a further 22 million kilowatts of wind power capacity

.http://www.2point6billion.com/news/2010/09/20/chinas-power-generation-capacity-surpasses-900-million-kilowatts-7200.html

Related articles by Zemanta

• China builds on nuclear ambitions (businessgreen.com)
• China in talks to export Pakistan bigger nuke plant (teabreak.pk)
• Dresser Masoneilan Wins Additional Control Valve Contracts with China Nuclear Power Engineering Company (eon.businesswire.com)
• Central China plans nuke equipment making hub: report (reuters.com)

Duke Energy Aims to Cooperate With Chinese Companies, Chief Executive Says

Duke Energy CEO Foresees External Partnerships With Chinese Firms

Duke Energy Chairman and CEO James Rogers said the company may partner with Chinese firms on projects outside of China, Bloomberg reported. At the World Economic Forum Summer Davos meetings in Tianjin, China, Rogers was quoted as saying: "Our focus is really on partnering and going out together as a Chinese-American consortium to develop opportunities outside of China. I say to our partners, let's partner, we'll conquer the world. We bring capital, we bring expertise, we bring scaling." The report said Rogers named neither Chinese partners nor possible projects.

Bloomberg, Sept. 12.

China Confirms Plans For USD 175 Billion Nuclear Park

China Confirms Plans For USD 175 Billion Nuclear Park

31 Aug (NucNet): The county of Haiyan on the east coast of Zhejiang province in China has been chosen to host a nuclear energy industrial park to help with the country’s ambitious development of its nuclear power industry.

The conceptual design for the 130-square-kilometre Haiyan Nuclear City has been completed in Beijing. The city, which will cover about a quarter of the area of Haiyan County, will have four main areas: nuclear power equipment manufacturing; nuclear training and education; applied nuclear science industries (medical, agricultural, radiation detection and tracing); and promotion of the nuclear industry. China is expected to invest roughly 175 billion US dollars (USD) (137 billion euro) over the next 10 years to develop the nuclear city. The project will benefit from tax incentives and subsidies from the local government. The city offers logistics services to enterprises that set up there, with transportation, logistics distribution and delivery, and freight forwarding. There are five reactor units already in commercial operation in Zhejiang province and six under construction Of those six, Qinshan 2-3 was connected to the grid on 1 August 2010 and is due to begin commercial operation early next year. Earlier this year, the Zhejiang government and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) signed a “strategic energy cooperation agreement,” which formally binds the two groups in developing the site. Last month, local and provincial officials approved the project and location, allowing preliminary engineering and construction work to begin. Six CNNC businesses will be located at the Nuclear City: CNNC Nuclear Power Operations, CNNC Nuclear Power Technical Support & Services Co, CNNC Nuclear Power Commissioning Centre, CNNC Nuclear Power Training Centre, CNNC Nuclear Power Communication and Exhibition Centre, and CNNC Nuclear Power Stocks & Spare Parts Centre. In addition, the headquarters of 18 leading Chinese nuclear equipment suppliers are based in Haiyan, which is about 100 kilometres southwest of Shanghai, as are branch offices of the major Chinese nuclear design institutes and construction companies. The plan is for the project to attract other related nuclear businesses such as radiation technology services, nuclear material inspection and testing accreditation services. Haiyan’s location along the Yangtze Delta serves as a strategic position to build a hub of nuclear reactors along the coastline, which is a part of China’s nuclear power construction plan. China’s nuclear energy industry is the world’s fastest-growing, with 23 nuclear plants under construction.

Ganji tops China listings By Sherman So

HONG KONG - Five years ago, hundreds of entrepreneurs in China were trying to imitate the hugely successful Craigslist classified site. Today, the sector has consolidated, and Ganji, founded in 2005 by Mark Yang, is emerging the winner with revenue it expects to double to US$20 million next year.

Yang, impressed by what he had seen was happening with Internet classified advertising while he was a student in the United States, decided to do the same when he returned to China in late 2004.

"I was at Yale studying computer science. And I am a Craigslist fans. So, I gathered some money from friends, about $100,000, and we started a classified website in China," he said