The China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Holdings Co. Ltd (CGNPG), one of the developers, said a panel of more than 200 specialists examined and approved a feasibility study for the project at a meeting held in Dalian last weekend. The approval paves the way for start of construction on the nuclear power plant located in Wafangdian, 104 km north of Dalian in Liaoning Province.

The feasibility study, completed by Shenzhen Engineering Designs Co. Ltd. of CGNPG, looked at the designs of the four reactors to be installed at the nuclear power plant.

The approval panel was convened by State Electric Planning and Designing Institute. Present at the meeting were experts from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the State Environmental Protection Administration and the State Power Grid.

The excavation of the foundations for the reactors have also passed inspection which was organized by the National Nuclear Safety Administration, a subsidiary of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

The power station will have six generating units, each with an installed capacity of one million kilowatts.

It will be the first nuclear power plant in northeast China with the first phase coming on line by 2012.

The project, approved by the National Development and Reform Commission last April, will cost 23 billion yuan (2.88 billion U.S. dollars), which will be shared by the China Power Investment Corporation, the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Holdings Co. Ltd (CGNPG) and two Liaoning companies.

The Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co. Ltd, has been set up to oversee construction and manage the operation of the plant.

The power plant is expected to play an important role in efforts to rejuvenate China's old industrial northeast.

The government plans to increase the country's nuclear power capacity to 40 million kilowatts by 2020, to account for four percent of the country's total electric power, according to information from the National Development and Reform Commission.