China Nuclear Power Poised for Export in `Self-Reliance' Bid

[jpak]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aSpqDJ5SWe28&refer=home

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- China, its safety reputation tattered by lead paint in toys, cancer-causing chemicals in seafood and antifreeze ingredients in toothpaste, is gearing up to become the world's biggest producer and operator of nuclear plants.

The country plans to build about 30 new reactors by 2020, at a cost totaling 450 billion yuan ($61 billion). It could add as many as 300 in time, according to an official from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

Deals signed this year with Westinghouse Electric Co. and Areva SA will put the Chinese in position to copy the latest technology. Its biggest threat may be as a competitor in selling the $3 billion to $5 billion nuclear plants at home and abroad. China's atomic industry may follow the copy-and-compete blueprint laid out by local makers of cars, drugs and coal-fired power plants.

``The driving force is self-reliance,'' said Howard Bruschi, 67, Westinghouse's former chief technology officer, who two decades ago helped spearhead the company's efforts to get a foothold in China. ``I don't kid myself that they want to make their own designs and develop them and export them.''

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