China will speed up the development of diversified energy supply by focusing on raising the proportion of nuclear power and natural gas, said Zhou Dadi, director of Energy Research Institute, National Development and Reform Commission, at the 2005 annual meeting of China Association of Science and Technology, on August 22.

Short energy supply, soaring prices and frequent coalmine accidents are all signals of China's entry into a stage of extremely fast energy construction. Under the double pressure of huge energy demand and environmental deterioration, China must shift from its excessive dependence on coal to a diversified energy supply by raising the proportion of oil, gas, nuclear power and new energies, said Zhou. The state will particularly encourage the exploitation and application of natural gas and speed up nuclear energy construction so as to achieve a strategic balance of natural energies. Besides, the use of international oil, gas and mineral resources will also be strengthened.

China consumed about 2 billion tons of coal in 2004, taking up 67 percent of the nation's total energy consumption; oil import reached 120 million tons, or 35 percent of the total. Meanwhile, China lags far behind developed countries in using natural gas resources. Last year the United States consumed about 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which almost equals the total amount of European countries. Russia used 400 billion cubic meters, while China only used 41.5 billion cubic meters.

According to Xu Damao from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who has long been engaged in energy studies, in the coming three decades new energies such as wind power and optical energy will not become pillar sources and we must rely on nuclear energy to gradually replace coal. Now China is capable of independent design, construction and operation of nuclear plants, and has the conditions possessed by developed countries in the 1970s for fast development of nuclear energy. By 2035, we should have a nuclear installation capacity taking 20 percent in our energy structure.

Statistics showed that in 2004 China's nuclear power generation was 50.1 billion kwh, only 0.02 percent of the national total.

By People's Daily Online