Russian-built China nuclear power plants delayed

Beijing, Apr 5: Two Russian-built nuclear power plants in eastern China are delaying commercial operation by about half a year, following months of safety checks and repairs at one faulty unit, a senior industry official said today.

The setback came as the world's second-largest energy user embarks on a 50 billion dollar nuclear power expansion scheme, which just a few months ago drew most advanced technology from France and the United States.

The delay at the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant could threaten talks on planned expansion at the Tianwan facility with Moscow, whose nuclear technology was not as up to date.

''The first plant is still under test runs, which means under-capacity operations. The target date for full commercial runs is by June,'' said the official familiar with the 2.15 gigawatt (GW) project, a fraction of China's plan to boost its installed nuclear capacity to 40 GW in 13 years.

The schedule is behind an earlier one of late 2006.

Cracks were detected at tubes of one of the four steam generators at plant No. 1 during construction, said the official, a problem that lowers generating capacity but poses little safety hazard, the official said.

It took months to fix and the problem led to closer scrutiny and additional checks from the country's nuclear safety bureau, attached to the State Environmental Protection Administration.

The cracks were possibly caused by lack of protection when the equipment was shipped to China years ago, the official said.

The delay in commercial operation is also having a negative impact on the 1.6 billion dollar investment, led by state-run China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), as it reaps power tariffs significantly below rates for plants under normal operation.

Though operating at near full capacity, the number one unit was only paid around 0.20 yuan (0.03 dollar) for generating one kilowatt-hour (Kwh) of electricity, half of the normal price, the official said.

Under a turn-key contract, Atomstroiexport, building contractor of Russian atomic agency Rosatom, started constructing the two 1.075-GW plants in October 1999. A media official at CNNC's Beijing headquarters declined to comment. Jiangsu Nuclear Power Co Ltd, the operator based in Lianyungang city, was not immediately available for comment.

More countries are warming up to atomic energy, seen as producing less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels, although fears remain over the risks of another Chernobyl-like radioactive leak, and as more Japanese utilities admitted their failure to report past incidents when nuclear fuel rods were mishandled.

Russia as Stratergic Partner

Commercial runs at the second plant was not expected until the end of this year, said the official, which implied that the start of serious talks on the expansion to add another two reactors of similar capacity would have to wait until 2008.

That could put the project behind those of France's Areva and US-based Westinghouse -- in which Japan's Toshiba Corp. holds 77 percent -- both awarded around the start of the year in deals each worth 5 billion dollars or more.

Atomstroiexport was among the bidders for the same international tender but later withdrew as Moscow was unwilling to accept full technology transfer as requested by the Chinese, Russian media Interfax has reported.

But the delay is unlikely to divert China away from Russian technology for the Tianwan expansion, as Beijing saw Moscow as a strategic partner in the long run, holding abundant energy resources key to China's rapid economic growth.

And it would be much more costly switching to another technology at the same site, industry experts said.

China plans to spend some 50 billion dollars on building around 30 nuclear reactors by 2020, raising its installed nuclear capacity to 40 GW -- nearly enough to power Spain -- as it seeks to fuel its booming economy.

That would be around four per cent of China's total power capacity, compared with about only 2.3 per cent now but still far ehind over 70 per cent in France and a quarter in Japan.

Reuters