China Tianwan nuclear plants starts No. 2 unit

BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) China National Nuclear Corp has started the number 2 generating unit at its Tianwan nuclear power plant, a Sino-Russian cooperative project in Jiangsu province, the Xinhua news agency said today.

After a debugging period, the number 2 unit will begin commercial operations, it said, citing a company announcement.

Tianwan's first 1,060 megawatt AES-91 generating unit was connected to the grid in May last year, and began generating at full capacity in January.

The Tianwan plant, in the port city of Lianyungang in eastern China, will have four generating units and space for four more.

China plans to install 40,000 MW of nuclear power generating capacity by 2020, representing 4 per cent of the total national power capacity.

In addition to Tianwan, the first, second and third phases of Qinshan nuclear power station, plus the Daya Bay and Ling'ao nuclear plants, are already in operation.

REUTERS CS RN1814