On November 27, Financial Associated Press reported (by reporters Liang Xiangcai and Zhang Chenjing) that one of the dual giants in nuclear power, china national nuclear power (601985.SH), has extended an olive branch to private capital. At today's performance briefing, the company's director Lu Tiez-chong stated that according to national policy guidance, the company will introduce private capital into newly approved projects.

Lu Tiez-chong further stated that for nuclear power enterprises, the investment scale of nuclear power projects is large, and the participation of private enterprises is beneficial in leveraging the respective advantages of state-owned and private enterprises to promote common development. For private enterprises, nuclear power features low generation costs, good power supply stability, and low carbon emissions, aligning well with their energy needs and the goal of achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality set by the state.

In fact, there are successful precedents for private capital participating in nuclear power investment. On November 2, the first phase of the San'ao Nuclear Power's grid connection project in Wenzhou, zhejiang, was completed and put into production, marking the official connection of the first nuclear power station with participation from private capital to the national grid.

In addition, on August 19, the State Council executive meeting approved five nuclear power projects, all of which introduced private capital. Among them, three projects from cgn power co.,ltd. had six units approved, one project from china national nuclear power had three units approved, and one project from the State Power Investment Corporation had two units approved.

According to Jin Xiandong, the director of the Policy Research Office and spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference in September, the five nuclear power projects recently approved by the State Council executive meeting have allocated 10% of their shares to attract private capital, which fully reflects the determination to support the sustained and healthy development of private enterprises.

It is reported that the investment scale of nuclear power projects is large, the cycles are long, returns are stable, and safety requirements are high. China has always adopted a model of state-owned enterprises holding the majority and local governments participating. Currently, there are four state-owned enterprises that can hold a controlling stake, namely China National Nuclear Corporation, cgn power co.,ltd., State Power Investment Corporation, and Huaneng Group.

It is worth mentioning that at the performance briefing, Lu Tiez-chong stated in response to investor questions, "The company's asset scale has surpassed 600 billion yuan and is still in a rapid development and growth stage."

With the increase in the operating nuclear power units, china national nuclear power has seen rapid growth in asset scale in recent years, with totals of 464.851 billion yuan at the end of 2022, 539.267 billion yuan at the end of 2023, and 609.292 billion yuan at the end of September 2024, representing year-on-year growth rates of 13.41%, 16.01%, and 19.54%, respectively.

The company's director and general manager, Zou Zhengyu, stated at the performance briefing that currently, the installed capacity and proportion of nuclear energy generation in china are relatively low, with the electricity generation ratio still far below that of developed countries such as the usa and france, and even significantly lower than the world average. The next 15 years will be a critical strategic opportunity period for china's nuclear power, as well as a golden period for large-scale construction and leapfrog development.