(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-02 17:20

BEIJING  -- China's installed nuclear power capacity rose by 30 percent last year to 9.07 million kilowatts with two reactors in eastern Jiangsu Province going into commercial operation, the Office of the National Energy Leading Group said here Sunday.

A total of 11 nuclear reactors generated 62.86 billion kilowatts last year, up 14.6 percent. However, it accounted for just 1.9 percent of the country's total.

The reactors, three built with Chinese technology and the others equipped with Russian, French and Canadian technologies, were located in coastal areas, including Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

China planned to build an installed nuclear power capacity of 40 million kilowatts by 2020, or four percent of the nation's total, in a bid to meet growing power demand and the need to cut emissions.

China is the world's second-largest power consumer after the United States. It used more than 590.78 million tons of raw coal to generate power in the first half of 2007, up 18 percent year-on-year, the China Electricity Council said.