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China Set To OK Nuke Plants

China has announced it is ready to approve new nuclear power plants as part of ambitious plans to reduce reliance on oil and coal, ending a moratorium imposed after Japan's Fukushima disaster. The government said it hopes to generate 30 percent of China's power from solar, wind and other renewable as well as nuclear energy sources by the end of 2015.

BEIJING (AP) -- China has announced it is ready to approve new nuclear power plants as part of ambitious plans to reduce reliance on oil and coal, ending a moratorium imposed after Japan's Fukushima disaster.

The government said Wednesday that it hopes to generate 30 percent of China's power from solar, wind and other renewable as well as nuclear energy sources by the end of 2015. That's up from an earlier target of 15 percent from renewables plus 5 percent from nuclear by 2020.

The Communist government is aggressively promoting wind, solar, hydro and other alternative energy sources to curb surging reliance on imported oil, which it sees as a national security risk.

The Cabinet announcement gave no date for resuming construction of nuclear plants.

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