China has enough uranium reserves to develop its nuclear power
industry by 2020, said Wang Zhongtang, a senior official with the
State Environment Protection Administration.
A recent survey on 4.3 million square km of the country's
territory indicated the annual exploitations of uranium will be
able to meet demand in the years up to 2020, he said.
But the official admitted global market is necessary for the
long-term development of China's nuclear power industry.
The country is talking with South Africa and Australia about
related cooperation and developing new ways to improve the
efficiency of uranium usage, said the official.
China's State Council has adopted a strategy to ensure that the
nation's total installed capacity of nuclear power reaches 40
million kilowatts by 2020, accounting for 4 percent of the
country's total electric power.
China began developing its nuclear power industry in the late
1980s to help ease an energy bottleneck.
At the end of 2006, China's installed capacity of nuclear power
reached 6.85 million kilowatts, accounting for only 1.1 percent of
the country's total installed power capacity.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2007)