BEIJING - China's nuclear power plants will have a total installed capacity of 40 million kW by 2015, Ye Qizhen, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has said.

"Coal power has high transportation costs and puts huge pressure on the environment, but nuclear power doesn't emit pollutants such as carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide," Ye said Friday at a press conference.

China currently has 17 nuclear power units running with a total installed capacity of 14 million kW.

Ye estimated that, if the country has 60 million kW of nuclear power capacity in 2020, it will reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by 574 million tons per year, or by 6.8 percent.

According to Ye, the National Energy Administration is moving to approve major nuclear power projects and steadily push forward nuclear power construction in coastal regions.

Meanwhile, Zhou Dadi, vice director of the China Energy Research Society, noted that China has been raising its nuclear safety standards and nuclear power has safety guarantees in terms of technology, management and laws and regulations.