The shadows of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island no longer reach to the pine-crested hillsides of Hangzhou Bay, where China is rushing to expanding a nuclear power station to meet soaring demand for electricity for its economic boom.

Driven by crushing fuel shortages, smog and ambitions to profit from its hard-won nuclear prowess, Beijing has embarked on a quest to more than double its nuclear power generating capacity by 2020.

The push for more nuclear power means opportunities for US, French and Russian technology suppliers that are competing for up to US$8 billion (HK$62.4 billion) in contracts for two new nuclear power plants - the biggest deals in years for the industry.

The French nuclear group AREVA; Westinghouse Electric, the US unit of British Nuclear Fuels; and Russia's AtomStroyExport are awaiting the central government's decision on bids for facilities at Sanmen, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, and Yangjiang in Guangdong province.

At Qinshan, a two-hour drive southwest of Shanghai and its 20 million residents, sites are being prepared for four new reactors, in addition to the five already operating at three different facilities.

``The excavation is almost finished,'' said Yang Lanhe, general manager for Qinshan Phase II, China's showcase for domestically developed nuclear technology and equipment, pointing out the window to a site cleared and waiting for construction to begin.

Yang and other executives at Qinshan speak of

China's own accident-free record after 14 years of nuclear power generation. And they say technology has advanced far beyond that used decades earlier, when the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania and the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine decimated public support for atomic energy in the West.

``We know and understand that nuclear power is a clean and good energy and we think it would be good to increase its share,'' said Hu Haiyun, Communist Party boss for the Qinshan Nuclear Base.

China's nuclear program, dating back to the 1950s, began commercial operations only in 1991, at Qinshan.

For six years, beginning in 1997, dozens of potential projects were put on hold amid concerns over excess capacity, safety and the relatively high costs of nuclear-generated electricity.

The race to build more plants resumed last year, as China struggled with blackouts amid its worst energy crisis in decades.

China expects the share of its power supplied by nuclear generation to grow to 4 percent by 2020 from 2.3 percent today. To meet that goal, it must build about two new facilities every year.

``After 2020, nuclear power's growth will increase much much faster. Its importance in China's energy framework will be indisputable,'' Shen Wenquan, vice chairman of China National Nuclear Corp's science and technology committee, told an industry conference in Shanghai.By 2060, nuclear power could provide about a third of China's energy needs, he said.

Qinshan reflects the industry's evolution so far. Phase I was designed by Chinese engineers, with main components imported from Japan, Germany and France. Phase II was designed and built with domestic technology and equipment. Phase III, with more modern facilities, is a joint venture between China National Nuclear Corp and Atomic Energy Canada.

China hopes to begin operating a prototype fast reactor by 2008, with commercial operations expected by 2020, Shen said. It is the center of a top-priority 1.38 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) national research project.

Chinese researchers also have been preparing to build a pebble-bed nuclear reactor, using a new technology fueled by small graphite spheres with uranium cores. Since the uranium is spread among small spheres, dissipating heat, risks of a meltdown are smaller and radioactive waste is less likely to be useful for building nuclear weapons.

Shen noted that resolving the ``fuel cycle problem'' would be crucial to future expansion plans for the industry.

He said research was focusing on fast reactor technology to reduce the amount of waste and boost efficiency of uranium usage by up to 70 times. China will eventually need to import most of its uranium as its nuclear program expands. ASSOCIATED PRESS