The State Council meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao deliberated and passed the “medium- and long-term nuclear power development plan (2005-2020)” in principle on March 22.

According to the plan, nuclear power is a strategic energy source and should be actively developed to meet the country's growing demand of energy sources.

The plan stresses that China should rely on self-design and innovation while make use of international advanced technology and experience, insist on “safety first and quality first” to form an integrated capability for building advanced nuclear power plants in batches, entirely set up the construction, operation and management mode conforming to international advanced level, and establish a relatively complete system on nuclear power industry, regulation and standard.