SHENZHEN, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- About 2,000 people, including high-ranking politicians and French and British diplomats, attended a ceremony in Shenzhen Tuesday to mark the start of the commercial operation of the No.1 generating unit of Lingao Nuclear Power Station in Guangdong Province, south China.

¡¡¡¡Among those present at the ceremony were China's top legislatorLi Peng, representatives of Chinese and overseas companies involved in the project and local government officials.

¡¡¡¡Located in Daya Bay in Guangdong Province, the nuclear power station at a cost of 4.1 billion U.S. dollars is the second to be built in the province. The first was Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station, which started commercial operation in 1994.

¡¡¡¡The second generating unit at Lingao, which will have four generating units when completed, is expected to start commercial operation early next year.

¡¡¡¡Unlike the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station which uses two pressurized water reactors imported from France and Britain, part of the Lingao station's equipment was made in China.

¡¡¡¡Li, who attended the 4-billion-U.S.-dollar Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station's opening ceremony on February 6, 1994 as premier, said 30 percent of the equipment at Lingao is to be produced locally.

¡¡¡¡Li said the cost of the Lingao station is lower than that for the Daya Bay station, thanks to the local manufacture of nuclear power generating facilities and imported technology. Enditem