China's nuclear giant lists its assets

Visitors to a high-tech expo in Shenzhen examine nuclear power station models at the booth of China General Nuclear Power Corp. [Photo/Xinhua]

State-owned nuclear giant China General Nuclear Power Corp, the country's largest nuclear operator, listed its applied nuclear science and technology assets on the A-share market on Monday, cashing in on the country's trillion-dollar industry, the company said.

The corporation's reverse merger partner, the State-owned company China Dalian International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Co Ltd, will be officially renamed as CGN Nuclear Technology Development Co Ltd, according to Huang Xiaofei, spokesman of the corporation.

Under the deal, China Dalian International spent 4.2 billion yuan ($645 million) to acquire shares of seven companies held by CGNNT, while it has also raised another 2.8 billion yuan through private placements, the corporation said.

Zhang Jianfeng, general manager of CGNNT, said the company aims to lead the domestic market in applied nuclear science and technology through the listing.

"Applied nuclear science in developed countries has formed a massive industrial chain－covering industry, agriculture, medical health, food safety, environmental protection, resource exploration and security," he said

"The industry in China, on the other hand, has great potential for further development as it has been less tapped compared with developed countries such as the US."

The listing also comes at a time when China, the world's largest energy consumer, has plans to export its homegrown nuclear technology.

The UK government has started an assessment of CGN's plan to build a nuclear power plant at Bradwell in southeastern England in January, which would be the first full nuclear project in a developed market to use a Chinese design.

Experts said applied nuclear technology related to nuclear power, from medical linear accelerators to isotope and radioactive sources, will boost a trillion-dollar market.

Xu Yuming, deputy director of the China Nuclear Energy Association, said: "Applied nuclear science and technology can be widely used in industries like agriculture, medicine and other aspects, and based on that it is believed CGN has great potential in the sector."

CGN remains China's largest－and the world's fifth-biggest－nuclear operator with 19 nuclear power units in operation and an installed capacity of 20.38 GW by the end of 2016.

Its total annual nuclear on-grid power generation was roughly 115.58 billion kWh in 2016, an increase of 30.8 percent compared with last year, which is equivalent to a reduction of coal consumption of 37 million metric tons and carbon dioxide emissions of 90 million tons and sulfur dioxide emissions of 880,000 tons, it said.

Xu He contributed to the story.