Nuclear deal buoys Chinese companies

The nuclear cooperation agreement signed between China and South Africa will help Chinese companies win more orders in the African nation's nuclear program, experts said on Wednesday.

The deal is also expected to give a fillip to China's third-generation nuclear power technology known as CAP1400, based on technology used in the AP 1000 reactor technology of Westinghouse, a source from the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp told China Daily.

But the source said that commercial nuclear power cooperation is still in the early stages, since nuclear energy always involves governments.

"We have the intellectual property rights for the CAP1400 and this means that we can export nuclear reactors at competitive prices," the source said.

South African Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, during a recent visit to the SNPTC - the long-term partner of Westinghouse, the US nuclear group owned by Toshiba of Japan - had said that she was impressed by China's third-generation nuclear power technology.

The demonstration project of the CAP1400 technology in Shandong province is likely to be among the nuclear projects that would get government clearance soon, sources said.

South Africa is an attractive nuclear market for Chinese companies, as the country is set to offer the largest tender in its history, an estimated 1 trillion rand ($93 billion) contract to build six reactors by 2030.

The bidding process would be completed by mid-2015 before any final contracts are signed, South African officials told Reuters recently. But fierce competition has made the country a tough market to crack.

About two months ago, Russian atomic agency Rosatom signed a $10 billion deal with Pretoria to install 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2030 to help cope with chronic electricity shortages.

China's nuclear giants such as China General Nuclear Power Corp and SNPTC have been trying for years to make progress in the Africa's most economically advanced country.

Earlier this year, SNPTC reached an agreement with South Africa Nuclear Power Company in nuclear technology training. The agreement will create opportunities for young South Africans to further their studies in nuclear energy and other specialized areas of energy at Chinese universities, with up to 95 percent of the funding provided by Chinese institutions.