Beijing Sep 20 (IANS) After a long delay and cost spillover China is set to start commercial operations of the world s first next-generation AP1000 nuclear reactor.

The No. 1 reactor at the Sanmen power plant designed by Westinghouse Electric Company is expected to be ready for commercial operations on Friday after completing a 168-hour test-run Shanghai-listed China National Nuclear Power Company said in a statement to the stock exchange on Thursday.
According to the South China Morning Post it did not say when the unit in east China s Zhejiang province will officially enter commercial power production.
China s drive for cleaner energy has been a bright spot for a nuclear industry beset with cost overruns and stricter regulations in the wake of Japan s 2011 Fukushima disaster.
The Sanmen start-up may help advance the country s ambitions to almost double nuclear capacity by 2020 as the approval of new reactors is seen as being dependent on the successful start of so-called third-generation reactors.
"It s a landmark event for China s nuclear power industry " Snowy Yao a Hong Kong-based analyst at China Securities International Finance Holding Company was quoted as saying by the Post.
"It s safe to say China is now one of the leaders in the world s civil nuclear power industry."
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.s@ians.in)

--IANS gsh/nir