China plans nuclear power platform in disputed sea

An official agency has approved plans to start building China's first maritime nuclear power platform that could serve offshore projects in the disputed South China Sea, state media reported Friday.

The Global Times quoted an official from China's leading shipbuilding organization tasked with designing and building the platforms as insisting that they would be "based on mature technology" and primarily serve civilian purposes.

A Beijing-based naval expert told the Times on Thursday that the facilities could serve as reliable energy sources for lighthouses, rescue and relief equipment, seawater desalination and defensive weapons and airports in the South China Sea.