The China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. hopes to break ground for a nuclear power plant in Yangjiang, southern Guangdong province, by 2006, Xinhua news agency reported on its website.

The Lingdong plant, another project expected to kick off in 2006, is in fact phase two of the company's existing Ling'ao plant, according to the agency.

A third plant, at Yaogu, is tentatively scheduled to enter the construction phase in 2010, Xinhua said.

China has set an ambitious goal of having a nuclear capacity of 36,000 megawatt by the year 2020, previous reports said.

China has said it hopes nuclear power will help reduce its heavy dependence on oil, much of which has to be imported from the volatile Middle East.

The Iraq war made an already anxious China even more worried about its heavy dependence on energy from the Middle East, the source of 60 percent of its oil imports.

It spent 12.7 billion dollars on imports of 70 million tonnes of crude oil in 2002, a 15-percent increase over the previous year.

China estimates by 2020 it will need to import 70 percent of its crude oil, or 500 million tonnes, and 50 percent of its gas requirements, or 100 billion cubic metres.

WAR.WIRE