By intern reporter Zhou Lingling

Four Chinese power companies will set up a joint venture in preparation for the construction of a nuclear power station in Wuhu City, Anhui Province. The move is seen as part of a greater effort to boost nuclear power development in the country’s inland regions.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNP), Anhui Province Energy Group, Shenergy Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600642), and Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600021) will hold 51 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent and 14 percent stakes in the venture, respectively. Total registered capital is 200 million yuan.

The Wuhu plant, which will have four 1-million-kilowatt reactors, will be the first such nuclear power station in Anhui Province. Once complete, the plant is expected to generate around 30 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, to be supplied to Anhui and Shanghai. The first phase of construction is slated to start before 2010, and the plant is expected to begin operation between 2011 and 2015.

Caijing learned that the Anhui provincial government and CGNP submitted a proposal for a nuclear power project early in 2006. However, it was processed slowly because at the time the cental government gave priority to nuclear projects in coastal areas.

But with the growing power demand from China’s broad inland regions, the Chinese government is showing signs that it has revised its original strategy, and is granting more opportunities for inland regions to develop nuclear power.