Central China plans nuke equipment making hub: report

BEIJING (Reuters) - Central China's Hubei province plans to build in the next three to five years a base to make nuclear power equipment, official news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday, part of the country's massive push to boost clean energy.

State-run China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp, State Nuclear Technology Corp (SNPTC) and Dongfang Electric will build factories in central Chinese city Wuhan to supply key equipment for the planned nuclear power plant in Xianning.

The Xianning plant, one of China's first nuclear reactors in the inland region, will use third-generation AP1000 technology developed by Westinghouse, a unit of Japan's Toshiba, Chinese state media has said.

China, the world's second-largest energy user and electricity market after the United States, will likely boost its total nuclear power capacity to top 75 gigawatts by 2020, a senior energy official said in July, or more than eight times its current working capacity.

China sees nuclear power as one of the most effective tools -- hydropower and natural gas are among the others -- to achieve its goal on greenhouse gas emission cuts, by reducing its heavy dependence on dirty coal.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)