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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (21685)	1/18/2005 3:42:52 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

China to build PFR nuclear power stations by 2020 www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-18 15:29:49 BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- China will complete the construction of prototype fast reactor (PFR) nuclear stations by about 2020, the director with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced here Sunday. The reactor can lift the utility rate of natural uranium from one percent to 60 to 70 percent with a pressurized water reactor (PWR), said Kang Rixin. Currently, most of China's nuclear stations, both in operation or under construction, use a PWR and heavy water reactor (HWR), sources with CNNC said. The development of the new kind of reactor is expected to be finished and put into operation at the beginning of the next "five-year plan" period (2006-2010), CNNC sources said. China is now speeding up the PFR experiment, which is supportedby the 863 Plan, the nation's hi-tech research and development program, sources said. The development research, with a total investment of 1.38 billion yuan (167 million US dollar), is the largest project in the 863 Plan. Nuclear power should make up four percent of the nation's total generating capacity by 2020, according to plans made by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). "This requires CNNC, in collaboration with other corporations, to make pragmatic plans and schedules to address bottle-neck problems the nuclear industry facing, such as self-researching capability and resources provision," CNNC sources said. The CNNC sources said working on and implementing these reactors will still be, for a long time, the major product for China's nuclear industry. Enditem news.xinhuanet.com

To: RealMuLan who wrote (21685)	1/18/2005 4:46:38 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

China Central Bank Chief Pledges Convertible Yuan (Update1) [Yiwu care to comment on what this means and to who? thanks mish] Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- China reaffirmed its commitment to allowing free movement of the yuan on the capital account, promising further steps this year. ``The currency should be gradually moved toward full convertibility,'' central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said in a speech in Beijing. ``This year there will be further steps in this aspect, but generally speaking the progress will be steady.'' China already allows money to flow freely in and out of the country for trade in goods and services. The decision to relax restrictions on capital flows is aimed at curbing the world's second-largest foreign exchange reserves after Japan's. Reserves rose 51 percent last year to a record $609.9 billion, driven by surging exports, direct investment from overseas and speculators betting on a revaluation of the yuan, which has been pegged at 8.277 to the U.S. dollar for the past decade. ``It is a little fast, but it does not mean that the growth is irrational,'' Zhou said when asked if the growth of reserves is a concern. ``Some people say'' China should maintain sufficient reserves to pay for six months of imports, he said. In addition, the central bank needs enough to meet demand for currency among foreign investors when they repatriate profits, he said. Foreign direct investment reached $60.6 billion last year while China's trade surplus widened to $11.1 billion in December, both records, according to the Ministry of Commerce. To prevent rising money supply from fueling inflation, the central bank has stepped up sales of government securities to mop up excess funds generated by foreign capital inflows. ``It has created difficulties for our monetary policy but because the amount of M2 is large the difficulty is not that serious,'' Zhou said. M2, which includes cash and all deposits, expanded 14.6 percent from a year earlier to 25.3 trillion yuan ($3.06 trillion), after growing 14 percent in November, the Beijing- based People's Bank of China said on its Web site Jan 13.