CONSTRUCTION began on Saturday on the main structure of a nuclear power station in Dalian, Liaoning Province - the first atomic generating station in northeast China.
The Hongyanhe nuclear power station is designed to house six generating units in the million-kilowatt class.
The first phase of the project consists of four reactors. The first unit is expected to start commercial operation in 2012. It will be joined by three others in 2014, when the station's annual electricity output is expected to reach 30 billion kilowatt-hours.
The project will cost an estimated 50 billion yuan (US$6.6 billion), according to Xu Juncai, deputy general manager of the Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co Ltd.
The China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Holdings Co Ltd and the China Power Investment Corporation each holds a 45-percent share in the plant, while the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Company owns the remainder.
"Construction of the station will help ease increasing electricity demand in the northeast, boosted by the country's strategy of revitalizing the region," said Liu Huanxin, deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Reform and Development Commission.
The station will also drive development of the region's equipment manufacturing industry, Liu said.
Electricity generated by the plant will account for one-10th of the total in northeast China when the four units comprising the first phase go into operation, according to Xu.
The installed nuclear power generating capacity on the Chinese mainland now stands at around eight million kilowatts, accounting for a little more than one percent of the country's total, far below the world average.
The government plans to increase nuclear power generating capacity to 40 million kilowatts by 2020 to meet growing demand and cut emissions, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.