In a report submitted to an international engineering meeting in Beijing last week, Li said uranium resources in China can meet power demand to quite a significant level.

The demand for power is inevitably growing in China, along with the growth of the economy and population, and improvement of living standards of people, said Li.

Planning and prediction by authorities in China show that China requires an additional installed capacity of 500,000 mw prior to 2020.

Compared with coal, nuclear power is safe and economical, and it does not release greenhouse gas, thus causing little pollution to the environment, he said.

Nuclear power plays an important role in providing electricity to the economically-developed southeast coastal areas, which are short of conventional energy resources, Li Dingfan stressed.

About 90 percent of coal reserves are located in the north, while 68 percent of exploitable water-power sources in the southwest areas, Li said.

The present basic principle for electric power development in China implies "optimizing the thermal-power structure, devoting major efforts to hydropower, developing nuclear power appropriately and developing new energy sources for production of electricity in line with local condition."

China has built Qinshan and Daya Bay nuclear power plants in east China's Zhejiang Province and south China's Guangdong Province. Eight nuclear power generating units are being installed in Ling'ao of Guangdong Province and Tianwan of Jiangsu Province.

Li said China is seeking international cooperation to localize the production of nuclear power generating units.

(People's Daily 10/17/2000)