China is reportedly aiming to launch a series of offshore nuclear power platform to promote development in the South China sea.
The move comes just days after an international court ruled Beijing had no historic claims to most of the waters.
The sovereignty of the South China Sea is contested by China, the Phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
The official China Securities Journal said as many as 20 offshore nuclear platforms could eventually be built in the region as the country seeks to “speed up the commercial development” of the South China Sea.
The newspaper said:”China’s first floating nuclear reactor will be assembled by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation’s (CSIC) subsidiary, Bohai Heavy Industry, and the company will build 20 such reactors in the future.
“The marine nuclear power platform will provide energy and freshwater to the Nansha Islands,” it said, referring to the disputed Spratly Islands.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked at a daily news briefing, said he did not know anything about the plans.
China’s claims over around 85 percent of the South China Sea were declared unlawful by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Tuesday, a decision that Beijing has rejected.
A spokesman for CNNC told Reuters the floating reactors plan had been drawn up by its affiliate, the Nuclear Power Institute of China, and a final decision would be made by CSIC. CSIC was not immediately available for comment.
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