Background
Mu Zhanying was born in 1955, China.
占英 穆
Mu Zhanying was born in 1955, China.
Like many of his peers, Mu joined the Number 23 China Nuclear Engineering Construction Company as a construction worker right after his graduation from high school in 1971. He went back to school after seven years and received his BS degree from Tongji University in 1978.
Mu’s leadership at CNEC started from his becoming the deputy manager of the Number 23 China Nuclear Engineering Construction Company in 1988. In the following year, the China Nuclear Corporation was divided into two groups, and Mu became the president of the China Nuclear Engineering Corporation. In 1997, with the approval of the State Council, the Chinese government reorganized the top-ten defense and technol- ogy corporations, which are all large state-owned enterprises (SOE) under the direct supervision of the State Council, CNEC among them.
Under Mu’s leadership, CNEC’s business has expanded from nuclear plant engineering and construction to general construction and engineering projects ranging from apartment blocks, bridge and road construction to overseas construction contracts and so on. As a result, the corporation’s revenue has increased at a rate of 10 percent annually. In 2001, the corporation became profitable after running deficits for six years in a row, and in 2002 the revenue from civilian work exceeded that of the nuclear industry for the first time. In the same year, the ‘Outline for Strategic Development of the China Nuclear Engineering Corporation’ was drafted, marking the first time that the group had proposed a systematic development strategy. Their goal is crystal clear: to become China’s main contractor for national defense engineering, including supporting national defense engineering design, procurement, construction, maintenance, and research and development.
In relation to the commercialization of research findings in nuclear science, CNEC has made full use of its strength in nuclear engineering technology. Together with Tsinghua University, Mu led CNEC in a joint venture, China Nuclear Power Science and Technology Ltd, to promote cooperation in the area of high-tech achievements in low temperature nuclear heating reactors and high temperature reactors (HTR). In addition, CNEC has signed an investment agreement on the building of the high temperature gas cooled reactor nuclear power demonstration project with both China Huaneng Group, the nation’s largest power company, and Tsinghua University. The three partners pledged to cooperate in the commercial implementation of the HTR model, a key step in nuclear power plant construction.
Mu has been quoted as saying: ‘All the nuclear power facilities in China were built by CNEC.’ Indeed, CNEC has undertaken the construction of all the country’s nuclear reactors, uranium enrichment plants, fuel components, nuclear test bases, fuel produc- tion facilities, and various research institutions, in addition to its construction services in aviation, aerospace, shipbuilding, weapons, and other military industries related to national defense and technology projects. In the peaceful use of atomic energy, CNEC has undertaken the construction of all six of China’s nuclear power plants, and was responsible for the design, construction, installation, and debugging of nuclear reactor units at 11 project sites, including Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, the first nuclear power plant in China.