SHENZHEN: China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG), one of the two major nuclear power station developers of the country, will pump in more funds in the sector while ensuring the safety of each project.

With a home base in this southern China's booming city, the company plans to build two nuclear power generating units each year during 2006-2010 and three units each year during 2011-2015 , company spokesman Zhang Weiqing told a press briefing yesterday.

Given the general construction period of five years for a nuclear power station, China will witness the commercial operation of at least two units annually starting from 2011.

The company's efforts are a part of the country's plan to make better use of the clean and efficient nuclear power to increase the installed capacity to 40 million kilowatts by 2020.

In 2006, two of the CGNPG's working nuclear power stations, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and the Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station Phase One, with nearly 4,000 MWe (megawatt electric) of installed generating capacity, generated roughly 30 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) electricity.

Specifically, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station generated about 14.86 billion kwh electricity last year, of which 70 percent was supplied to Hong Kong market. This accounts for one-fourth of the territory's electricity supply.

The rest 30 percent and all the energy generated by Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station Phase One, which amounted to a little more than 15 billion kwh last year, was supplied by Guangdong power grid.

"The market is very potential. We have accumulated necessary capital, talent and experiences for the sector's fast development," Zhang said.

While reinforcing its advantages in Guangdong market, the company will also look for opportunities in other provinces, he added.

The phase two of Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station began construction at the end of 2005 and its two units, with 1,000 MWe of installed generating capacity each, will be put into service in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

The construction of another project in Yangjiang of Guangdong Province, which is expected to start this year, will be among the first group of nuclear power stations in China to adopt the third generation technology imported from United States or France.

The National Development and Reform Commission recently approved the first phase of Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant, a new project of CGNPG outside Guangdong Province, to build four generating units, each with an installed capacity of 1,000 MWe, from the previous two.

Hongyanhe project, co-developed by CGNPG, China Power Investment Corporation, and two local companies, is the first nuclear power station in Northeast China, which will be put into commercial use in 2012.