China may cut 2020 nuclear capacity goal by 10%

Capacity will fall somewhere between 60 and 70 GW, as some projects will have to be scaled back, says the China Nuclear Energy Association.

China, the world’s biggest energy user, may cut its 2020 nuclear power capacity goal by about 10 percent under a revised development plan to be announced this year, said a group tasked to help implement atomic policies, Bloomberg reports.

“The government wants to address public concern over the safety of nuclear development,” Li Yongjiang, vice president of the China Nuclear Energy Association, said in an interview in Hong Kong, where he is attending an industry conference. “Capacity will fall somewhere between 60 and 70 gigawatts, as some planned projects have to be scaled back or canceled.”

China aims to install 70 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by the end of the decade, the National Energy Administration said last year. The government halted approvals of new atomic stations after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan crippled the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant and the disaster spurred a global review of nuclear energy development.

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