China reveals massive plan to double nuke capacity over the next five years

Inland nuke plants must be prepared for construction and will start by 2020.

According to World Nuclear News, China's operating nuclear generating capacity will double over the next five years under the country's latest Five-Year Plan. The plan also calls for the preparation for construction of inland nuclear power plants and work on a reprocessing plant to start by 2020.

The ruling Communist Party of China's National People's Congress endorsed the draft of 13th Five-Year Plan at its annual session earlier this month. The plan will be officially implemented in the next few months. A summary of the plan lists several targets in the field of nuclear energy.

Here's more from World Nuclear News:

Firstly, China will complete construction of the four AP1000 units currently under construction at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and at Haiyang in Shandong province. Sanmen unit 1 is expected to be the first AP1000 to begin operating, in September, while Haiyang 1 is expected to start up by the end of the year. Containment tests have already been successfully conducted at both units. All four Chinese AP1000s are scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2017.

The plan also calls for construction of demonstration Hualong One projects at China National Nuclear Corporation's Fuqing plant in Fujian province and China General Nuclear's Fangchenggang plant in Guangxi to be completed by 2020. First concrete for Fuqing 5 was poured last May, while construction on unit 6 began in December. Fuqing 5 and 6 are scheduled to be completed in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Construction of Fangchenggang 3 also began in December, while construction of unit 4 is scheduled to begin later this year. Those two units are also expected to start up in completed in 2019 and 2020, respectively.