China to launch 2-3 Westinghouse nuclear projects -media

BEIJING, Dec 22 (Reuters) - China will start building another "two or three" third-generation Westinghouse nuclear reactors by the end of next year once they have been approved by the government, the China Daily newspaper said on Tuesday.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the AP1000 reactor projects would also be the first to be built in the country's interior provinces, with central China's Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi likely candidates. All of China's existing reactors are located along the eastern coast.

China signed an agreement with Westinghouse Electric in 2006 to build four AP1000 reactors in the coastal provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang.

The U.S.-based company, owned by Toshiba Corp (6502.T), won the projects after agreeing a technology transfer deal that would make the untested AP1000 technology the basis for China's own-brand third-generation reactor.

Two third-generation reactors, designed by France's Areva CEPFI.PA, are also being constructed in southeast China's Guangdong province. (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Chris Lewis)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE5BL03R20091222?type=marketsNews

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