Approvals for new nuclear plants in China are likely to resume later this year, according to an expert from a group affiliated with the government.
With more than two dozen reactors under construction, China was by far the world leader in new nuclear build when it suspended licensing for new plants in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi accidents. Construction was delayed on six new projects approved before the Japanese earthquake and plant blackouts, China Daily reported.
The newspaper, whose views closely reflect those of the ruling communist party, quoted Xiao Xinjian of the national Energy Research Institute as saying work on those projects is likely to resume in the second half of this year. Approvals for new plants will likely continue at a pace of three or four per year, which represents slower growth than before the government responded to Fukushima and began rewriting its regulations.
Despite recent delays, the world’s first Westinghouse AP1000 reactor at Sanmen remains on track to be operational in 2013, an official from the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation told China Daily.