Recent developments in Chinese nuclear technology

Since operation of the first nuclear power station in China started in 1993 , further development of nuclear power is being promoted in China to a cont inually increasing extent, as pointed out by Zhang Kaihua of the Chinese In stitute for Nuclear Energy in his research report. At present four nuclear power stations are under construction. However, they are being delivered al most exclusively by foreign companies and the first one is scheduled to del iver power into the electric grid system as from the year 2002. Furthermore , China is developing the pressurised water reactor CAP 600 together with t he American company Westinghouse Electric. On its own the country is now de veloping the AC 600 which too is a pressurised water reactor. The goals of this development project are to reduce construction costs and time and to i ncrease safety. With the development of the CAP 600 China not only intends to enhance the s afety standard, but also to devise a reactor whose dual circulation system capable of simple power increase is particularly suitable for operation in the small and medium-size electric power supply networks in China.