China will complete construction of five nuclear power reactors and start construction of eight more in 2017,according to plans released by the country's National Energy Administration (NEA). Planning for a further eight reactors will also be progressed this year.

In its Energy Work Guidance Opinion for 2017, published on 10 February, the NEA said construction will be completed of the Sanmen 1 and Haiyang 1 AP1000 units, the Taishan 1 EPR and the Fuqing 4 and Yangjiang 4 CPR-1000 units. These, together with "other projects", will add some 6.41 GWe of nuclear generating capacity, it said.

The Administration plans to start construction of eight units during this year, but it did not name them or state the type of reactors they will feature.

Preparatory work is also to be carried out this year on a further eight units. These include units 3 and 4 of Sanmen, Ningde units 5 and 6, and two units each at new plants at Zhangzhou in Fujian province and Huizhou in Guangdong province. Together with other projects, these will add 9.86 GWe of nuclear generating capacity.

The NEA also said China will promote the export of its nuclear power technology. It is to carry out follow-up cooperation work related to the planned construction of units at Karachi, Pakistan, as well as promote the implementation of the Hualong One reactor design in the UK.