(Yicai Global) Aug. 3 -- China National Nuclear Power and Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power plan to construct a low-temperature heating reactor that will use the heat generated by nuclear power plants to provide households with heat.

The technology, which supplies hot water at temperatures of around 45 degrees Celsius, is safe, zero emission, low investment and can be constructed near cities, the two companies said yesterday. It targets the demand for green energy heating in China’s northern cities which rely on highly polluting fossil fuels for much of their heat generation during the winter months.

The two parties will set up a joint venture to oversee the project, in which Beijing-based CNNP will invest CNY250 million (USD38.7 million) for a 51 percent stake and Zheneng Electric will pay CNY75 million for 15 percent equity. The China Institute of Atomic Energy and its technology development team will each be granted 10 percent shares in return for some of their intellectual property rights. The remaining stock will be held by three investors under CNNP's parent firm the China National Nuclear Corporation.

In 2017, the China Institute of Atomic Energy built such a reactor as an experiment. The 400-megawatt reactor could heat 200,000 three-bedroom houses at the same time. It would reduce ash residue generated by coal thermal heating by 100,000 tons a year and smoke and dust emissions by 3,200 tons a year.

CNNP’s share price [SHA:601985] closed up 0.41 percent at CNY4.93 (USD0.76) and Zheneng Electric [SHA:600023] finished the day at CNY3.28, a gain of 0.23 percent.

Editor: Kim Taylor