China will begin to build the world's first third-generation nuclear power plant at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Project in Sanmen City, coastal Zhejiang Province, in March 2009, according to the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp.

The plant will use the AP1000 technology transferred from the U.S. Westinghouse Electric Co. Westinghouse said the AP1000 uses less cable, piping and valves than the previous generation of reactors, thus cutting costs and reducing the need for large cooling towers, redundant pumps and other equipment.

Excavation on the foundations of the first of six planned reactors of the Sanmen project began in February.

China now has 11 nuclear power reactors in operation. It plans to increase its installed nuclear power capacity to 40 million kw or 4 percent of the country's total power-generating capacity by 2020.

Inset: Model of the Sanmen project