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ROBOT CONTEST: Children test their machines on February 2 for the 13th Beijing Teenager Robot Competition (ZHANG YU) |
China's first nuclear power reactor using U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric AP 1000 technology is expected to begin operations in October 2014.
Gu Jun, General Manager of the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., said the reactor is proceeding well.
Construction of the No. 1 reactor of the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in east China's Zhejiang Province has been underway since 2009.
The company had previously planned to bring the reactor online in 2013, but construction slowed after the devastating tsunami that crippled a nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011.
Slowing down construction allowed time for design adjustments and stricter requirements, according to the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp.
Consumer confidence in China increased in the fourth quarter of 2012, said market research firm Nielsen.
Confidence increased to 108 points in the last quarter of 2012, two points more than the third quarter and the same level as the end of 2011.
"Above 100 points represents an optimistic attitude and below 100 shows pessimism," said Yan Xuan, President of Nielsen in China.
The survey found that 70 percent of consumers expect prices to increase in the next 12 months. Only 5 percent expect a decrease.
According to the survey, in the fourth quarter, rural consumers were the most optimistic, while people living in large cities were less confident about consumption.
Compared to the last quarter, consumers' attitudes toward consumption in the next six months is at the same level. They also have higher expectations for employment and personal economic status.
Nielsen surveyed 3,500 consumers from both urban and rural areas in China, the largest of its kind. | 
