Li, who had worked in China's nuclear industry for nearly 50 years, was engaged in research on nuclear fuel and technologies and made important contributions to the development of new materials for nuclear energy development. 

He presided over China's first production line for fuel rod bundles, which fuel the nuclear reactor, in 2003, for the heavy water reactor power plant in Jiaxing, a city in Zhejiang Province, east China. The production technology, equipment and management at the plant are of international standard.

Li was the director of the Chinese Nuclear Society and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. 

A graduate from Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University, he was a visiting scholar to Ohio University.