BEIJING (Reuters) - China's earthquake-hit Sichuan province hopes to build its first nuclear power plant within as little as five years, but has chosen a site it says is geologically sound, state media said on Wednesday.
A feasibility study for the 25 billion yuan (1.8 billionpound) project, which would be located at Sanba village, willsoon be submitted to the central government's top economicplanner for approval, the official China Daily cited a topofficial saying.
"Construction of the station will begin once we havereceived approval, and will take about five years to complete,"said Zhao Hua, head of the Nuclear Power Institute of China.
The chosen site is to the east of the capital Chengdu,while the zone devastated by the May earthquake, which killednearly 70,000 and left thousands more missing, lies to itswest.
A team of experts visited the site after the quake toconfirm its geology was sound, Zhao added.
"There was no signs of any subsidence or landslips," hesaid.
The province currently gets around two thirds of its powerfrom dams, and often suffers electricity shortages in the dryseason, the paper quoted Sichuan's deputy Communist PartySecretary Li Chongxi as saying.
It wants to diversify its generating base and secure enoughelectricity to fuel fast economic development.
Sichuan is also home to several energy firms, which Li saidmade it a good place to develop nuclear power.
But some of the companies he named, including listedDongfang Electric, were badly hit in the earthquake. Many ofSichuan's dams were also damaged, destroyed or even buried bythe devastating quake, arousing some concerns over theindustry's future there.
(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by KeironHenderson)
