And Beijing so far has been silent on plans for nuclear generation beyond 2005, in stark contrast to the government's explicit call to boost natural gas and hydro power.

"The high cost and low level of local technology input is one main factor holding back Beijing's approvals of new plants," said a Beijing-based government expert in nuclear power.

But China will likely boost nuclear power in the longer term to supplement thermal and hydro generation given huge growth potential in power demand, the official said.

Experts forecast China's power consumption to grow six percent per annum in the next decade. Coal-dominated thermal power plants take up 76 percent of the current power capacity of 317 gigawatts. Hydropower accounts for 23 percent.

"Nuclear power is a good supplement to thermal and hydro, particularly in China's booming eastern region, which is out of reach from China's rich coal, natural gas and water resources in the west," the official said.

COSTS, IMPORTS

China's existing nuclear power reactors and those under construction each cost between $800 million and $2 billion to build with much of the key equipment imported into the country.

"If you talk about economics, nuclear cannot compete with any other source - coal, oil, gas and hydro - because its cost is sharply higher and its power price is therefore less competitive," said a researcher with Beijing-based government energy think tank, the Energy Research Institute (ERI).

Recently commissioned reactors in Qinshan and Ling Ao cost between $1,330 and $2,000 to build each kilowatt of capacity, significantly higher than an estimated $600 to build a kilowatt of coal-fired capacity.

Local governments along the eastern seaboard have lobbied for new plants, pledging to cap construction costs per kilowatt below $1,500 and the price of supplies per kilowatt hour at five cents, which is competitive to thermal plants, officials said.

Beyond the reach of existing regional power grids, booming local economies like Sanmen county of eastern Zhejiang province also are eager to jump onto the nuclear bandwagon.

"Prosperous local economies in the east are more concerned with the economic returns each kilowatt of electricity can bring, rather than how much that costs," said an official with China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC).

CNNC is the state-run conglomerate charged with military and civil nuclear activities, successor of the former Ministry of Nuclear Industry which built China's first atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and nuclear submarine.

China embarked on nuclear power in the late 1970s and commissioned its first reactor, a wholly Chinese-designed 300 MW plant, in 1991 in Qinshan, Zhejiang province.

Experts said that the decade-long safe operation of Qinshan plant has kept the domestic anti-nuclear voice low.