China saw its nuclear power generation capacity continue to enlarge in 2022, hitting a high of 166.3 billion kilowatts hours (kWh) in the first five months of the year, an increase of 4.5 percent year on year, according to data released by China Nuclear Energy Association.

China has 54 nuclear power units in operation, with an installed capacity of 55.81 million kilowatts, ranking third in the world.

Zhang Tingke, secretary general of China Nuclear Energy Association, told China Media Group (CMG) that "in the first quarter of this year, three more nuclear power generation units were put into operation in the country. The power generation capacity increased by 3.39 million kilowatts, up 6.6 percent year on year."

As a stable and reliable clean and low-carbon energy, nuclear power is one of the important sources boosting China's green development.

"Compared with traditional coal-fired power generation, each single one-million-kilowatt nuclear power generation unit can effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than six million tonnes per year, greatly reducing carbon emissions," Zhang said.

China's nuclear power plants

The Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Station became fully operational on Thursday, according to the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN). Located in northeast China's Liaoning Province, the power plant has a total installed capacity of over 6.71 million kilowatts.

With Unit 6 put into commercial operation, the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant became the third largest nuclear power plant in the world. The six units can generate 48 billion kWhs of electricity a year, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the total electricity consumption in Liaoning Province.

South China's Guangdong Province has the largest number of nuclear power generation units in operation in China. In the first quarter of this year, the on-grid power of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station reached 11.372 billion kWh, up 4 percent year on year, and that of Yangjiang Nuclear Power Plant was 11.313 billion kWh, up 17.33 percent year on year.

In Lianyungang City of east China's Jiangsu Province, six nuclear power generation units at the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant are currently in stable operation.

In the January-March period, power generated with renewable energy sources in the city was 14.409 billion kWh, up 34.3 percent year on year, with nuclear power generation accounting for 95.7 percent of the total.

Liu Yongsheng, general manager of the maintenance department of Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation under China National Nuclear Corporation, told CMG that "in the first quarter of this year, the electric power generated by our six units reached 13.701 billion kWh, up 35.75 percent year on year. The total power generation by the six units is expected to reach 25.458 billion kWh in the first half of this year."