Researchers at the China Institute of Atomic Energy in Tuoli, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Beijing, are preparing for a new golden age with a recently strengthened mandate.

After years of weighing the pros and cons, the government has come down firmly in favor of full-scale development of the country's nuclear energy industry in a bid to alleviate worsening power shortages.

"There's a renewed sense of urgency to develop nuclear power in China," said Wu Kang, an energy analyst at the East-West Center, a Hawaii-based think-tank. "Nuclear power is now given high priority."

Just this month, the Cabinet approved plans by the China National Nuclear Corp, the industry monopolist which is involved in the Tuoli complex, to build two new nuclear power projects in provinces hard hit by electricity shortages.

China has just nine nuclear power units operating in three different locations, accounting for altogether 1.4 percent of the country's total installed capacity.

That is even less than India, but the Chinese government hopes to dramatically increase that capacity so that by 2020, it will make up four percent of the total.

As the official green light for new projects looks likely to flare ever more frequently in the coming years, state-controlled media are vigorously informing the public about how deliberate this policy is.

"China's current achievements in nuclear power have remarkably narrowed the country's gap internationally," the People's Daily said in an editorial.

"Conditions are mature for China to accelerate the pace of making use of nuclear power," it said.

In October, it will be 40 years since China exploded its first atom bomb, but its commercial nuclear power industry is a mere decade old.

Until the late 1990s, policy-makers were still discussing if atomic energy should even be allowed to play a role in the country's future energy make-up.

The previous generation of leaders seemed more keen on harnessing the power of China's rivers, an obsession displayed most dramatically in the world's largest dam project at the Three Gorges, which is still under construction.

Not so with the new rulers that have taken over the reins in Beijing little more than a year ago and are already leaving their mark, according to observers.

"There was too high priority given to hydropower and too little given to nuclear power," said Wu. "And now there's been a rethink of the importance of nuclear power."

The new breed of men in charge, people like Premier Wen Jiabao, have a broader outlook, according to Richard Suttmeier, an expert on Chinese technology policy at the University of Oregon.

"What you have is a new leadership that is very sensitive to the changes in the nature of security, and is very serious about the way technology can be used in new kinds of ways," he said.

The security concept has changed and broadened, in China as elsewhere, so that it now also encompasses access to reliable and steady energy sources.

That issue has been highlighted in recent years, as China's booming economy has become an ever-more voracious energy consumer.

China now ranks second in the world behind in the United States as a consumer of oil, which is problematic as 60 percent of its imports come from the volatile Middle East.

Nuclear energy is a crucial part of China's strategy for greater energy security, even though it will never be a panacea.

"Energy security is like life insurance," said Wu. "You can't get absolute security. Nuclear power can't give China energy security, it can only help."

Given the rush to expand the nuclear facilities, China's indigenous technology may not be sufficient to meet demand for at least another decade.

That means new opportunities for foreign companies such as Electricite de France, Westinghouse of the United States and Japan's Mitsubishi, already scrambling for a piece of the action.

The question is if China's self-imposed haste in expanding the nuclear sector could mean a lowering of safety standards.

"The technology is not Chernobyl technology, but it can fail if the operators are not careful," said Suttmeier.

"One way to ensure that the operators are careful is to make a regulatory system that is robust."

WAR.WIRE