The first nuclear power plant outside of China's east coast began generating power in Fangchenggang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China on Sunday.
The project, which began in 2010, has now entered a 168-hour test period under full power to assess its readiness for commercial operation, the China National Radio (CNR) reported.
According to the official website of China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), which co-established the project with Guangxi Investment Group Co Ltd, the first phase of the project included construction of two pressurized-water reactors using independently developed technology. Each of the reactors will have an installed capacity of 1,080 megawatts of electricity.
CGN said the plant is scheduled to contain six nuclear reactors, each with the capacity to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity.
Once complete, the plant is estimated to be able to provide 15 billion kilowatt hours of energy to the Beibu Gulf Economic Development Zone in Guangxi. When compared with a coal-powered plant with a similar capacity, the new nuclear plant will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 11.86 million tons every year, the CNR reported.
The nuclear plant in Guangxi is one of 23 key projects designed to help boost the development of China's interior, which is underdeveloped compared with the country's eastern cities. Construction of the plant comes amid China's efforts to increase the use of non-fossil-fuel energy to comprise 15 percent of the nation's primary energy consumption by 2020.
China has the world's largest number of nuclear reactors under construction, and the installed capacity of those reactors could reach 88 million kilowatts by 2020, the Jinan-based newspaper The Economic Observer reported, citing a statement by Guo Chengzhan, deputy director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration.
