CHINA’S nuclear power stations generated a total of 168.99 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in 2015, up 29.4 percent compared to the previous year, the country’s nuclear industry body said yesterday.

    According to the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA), China started up six new reactor units over the course of the year, bringing the total number to 28.

    Installed nuclear plants have now reached 26.43 gigawatts (GW), 1.75 percent of China’s total generating capacity. Power generated by China’s reactors made up 3 percent of total output over 2015, the association said.

    China’s power generation in 2015 fell for the first time in nearly five decades, pulled down by a 2.8 percent decline in its mostly coal-fired thermal generation.

    Nuclear power is expected to play a key role in China’s efforts to ease its dependence on coal and meet its pollution and greenhouse gas emission targets over the next decade.

    China aims to raise total nuclear capacity to 58 GW by the end of 2020, but it might fall short of the target after a four-year suspension of new project approvals following Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster.

    (SD-Agencies)