(Yicai Global) Jan. 31 -- China yesterday gave the go-ahead to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Phase I of China National Nuclear's Zhangzhou nuclear power project, as well as another two at the Phase I of China General Nuclear Power Group's Huizhou Taiping Ling nuclear power project.

A senior executive at Beijing-based Hualong International Nuclear Power Technology, a joint venture between China National Nuclear and China Nuclear Engineering & Construction, both also headquartered in Beijing, confirmed the news to state-backed Jiemian News.

Barring one project approved in 2012, the Chinese government has imposed a freeze on new general nuclear power projects since the accident at the tsunami-struck nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan in 2011.

Infrastructure for the two projects, including power and water supply facilities, is already in place, and further construction awaited only the government nod, the senior executive said, but added the projects still need to pass safety checks before the first concrete pours.

Lying in Zhangzhou in southeastern Fujian province, the plan is for construction of six reactors applying US-developed AP1000 technology, with installed capacity of about 7.5 million kilowatts. Situated in Huizhou, Guangdong province, the Huizhou Taiping Ling nuclear power project will comprise six million-kilowatt reactors.

Many ongoing nuclear power projects in China started fueling last year, with seven commercial application-ready reactors put into operation, but new nuclear power projects are still not yet up and running.

The government is expected to later give the green light to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors for the nuclear power plants in Zhangzhou's Shidao Bay later, as well as the No. 3 and No. 4 units of the facilities located in Sanmen County and Haiyang, based on the national nuclear blueprint.

China adopted third-generation nuclear power technologies in many nuclear reactors last year, with the US technology used at the nuclear power plants in Sanmen County and Haiyang and EPR technology from France at the stations in Taishan.

The country has decided to shift to the Hualong One technology in the Zhangzhou nuclear power project as its self-developed Hualong One technology progresses.

The the technical choices for reactors at the Xudabao and Lufeng nuclear power plants are yet to be determined.

Editor: Ben Armour