BEIJING -- China has enough uranium reserves to develop its nuclear power industry by 2020, said Wang Zhongtang, a senior official with the State Environment Protection Administration.

A recent survey on 4.3 million square km of the country's territory indicated the annual exploitations of uranium will be able to meet demand in the years up to 2020, he said.

But the official admitted global market is necessary for the long-term development of China's nuclear power industry.

The country is talking with South Africa and Australia about related cooperation and developing new ways to improve the efficiency of uranium usage, said the official.

China's State Council has adopted a strategy to ensure that the nation's total installed capacity of nuclear power reaches 40 million kilowatts by 2020, accounting for 4 percent of the country's total electric power.

China began developing its nuclear power industry in the late 1980s to help ease an energy bottleneck.

At the end of 2006, China's installed capacity of nuclear power reached 6.85 million kilowatts, accounting for only 1.1 percent of the country's total installed power capacity.