The dome is being installed at No. 3 unit of Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant, a demonstration nuclear power project using Hualong One technology, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design, in Fangchenggang city, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 23 May 2018. (Photo: IC)

China's National Energy Administration disclosed Thursday that it has approved three nuclear power projects in three coastal cities after a three-year hiatus. 

Chinese industry insiders said the new technology with the world's highest safety level and efficiency will be applied to those projects. 

Hualong One technology, an independently developed third generation of Chinese nuclear technology, is expected to take China's nuclear technology above world level by 2020, they said.

One of the three newly approved projects based in Rongcheng county of East China's Shandong Province is already under construction, reported Shanghai-based news portal thepaper.cn. 

The other two in South China's Guangdong Province and Southeast China's Fujian Province are poised to start immediately, according to the report. 

China's electricity reserves are always abundant, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"But excess electricity has been used up in the past three years so we need to launch new projects," Lin said.

China is one of the world's largest energy consumers, making nuclear power important, Han Xiaoping, chief analyst at energy industry website china5e.com, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Hualong One technology makes China more confident about nuclear safety, Han noted.

After the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, China paused to increase the safety and technological perfection of nuclear power, Han said. 

With approval for the three projects, the technology would be constantly reviewed, the nuclear power insider noted. 

China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) issued an announcement introducing the nuclear project in Zhangzhou and invited public comment. 

According to the announcement, CNNC Zhangzhou branch evaluated the environmental and residential impact of the three-month, 10 million ($1.45 million) yuan project. 

Site selection began in 2006 for the Taipingling nuclear power project in Huizhou, the fifth nuclear project in South China's Guangdong Province, said thepaper.cn. 

China's last nuclear power project dates back to 2015, when eight regular nuclear power units were constructed. 

The Chinese mainland had 45 nuclear power units in commercial operation, with an installed capacity of 45,895 megawatts of electricity, according to data released March 31 by the China Nuclear Energy Association.