[A-List] China: nuclear expansion, Brazil links

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

China set to seek bids for four atomic power plants
By James Kynge in Beijing and Andrew Taylor in London
Financial Times; May 27, 2004

China is to invite inter-national tenders before the end of this year for
four new nuclear power reactors, as part of a huge nuclear expansion
programme designed to reduce dependence on imported fuel and plug growing
gaps in electricity generating capacity.

China is the world's biggest potential market for nuclear power, at a time
when few countries outside Asia are considering building new reactors. The
government has proposed increasing its nuclear capacity from about 8
gigawatts to about 40GW by 2020.

To meet this target would require construction of about two reactors a year,
each costing about $1.5bn (?1.2bn, £827m) according to the London-based
World Nuclear Association. The scale of development would be similar in size
to the large nuclear power construction programme conducted by France in the
1980s.

The next round of development will involve four reactors of 1GW each - two
to be installed in a new plant at Yangjiang, Guangdong province, and two in
the new Sanmen plant in Zhejiang province - officials said. The construction
of both plants is due to start in 2006.

Framatome, the French nuclear engineering group, is expected to be one of
the favourites to develop the Guangdong site, as it has already provided
four reactors on an adjacent site. Candu, the Canadian nuclear developer,
has similarly provided two reactors at the Sanmen site.

Other potential developers include Westinghouse, the US nuclear engineering
group owned by British Nuclear Fuels; and GE of the US in partnership with
Japanese engineering groups.

"We are holding the tenders in order to get competitive prices," said an
executive at China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), a state-owned
entity. "They bring in the technology and then it will help us to develop
our own," he added.

China already produces electricity from nine nuclear reactors, with another
two Russian-built reactors under construction in Jiangsu province, north of
Shanghai.
A recent government blueprint foresees China increasing its nuclear power
capacity sixfold by 2020.

The resultant investment bonanza, which is expected to total more than
$30bn, follows an erosion of concerns over the safety, cost and waste
disposal issues associated with nuclear power.

China has been deeply concerned over its growing dependence on imported oil
and the air pollution caused by its coal-fired power stations.

Nuclear power represents a way of diversifying the mix of China's energy
sources and reducing Beijing's reliance on uncertain foreign supply sources.

One beneficiary of China's appetite may be Brazil. Brazil will help in the
construction of 11 nuclear power plants and may do a deal to sell uranium to
China, according to a spokeswoman accompanying the delegation of Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, in China yesterday.