Beijing, April 3 (IANS): A Chinese firm has developed the country's first 300-megawatt nuclear reactor cooling pump and is ready for bulk production.

The developer, Harbin Electric Corp., on Sunday said that the cooling pump has passed state appraisal by the China Machinery Industry Federation, Xinhua news agency reported.

Previously, China had depended on imports for key components of pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants.

The cooling pump has been tested for 200 hours of continuous operation under automated high-temperature and high-pressure conditions.

China has witnessed the fastest growth in nuclear power worldwide.

According to China's first white paper on nuclear emergency preparedness issued in January, the Chinese mainland had 27 nuclear power generating units in operation as of the end of October 2015, with a total installed capacity of 25.5 gigawatts (GW), while another 25 units with a total installed capacity of 27.51 GW were under construction.

The world's second largest economy plans to raise its installed nuclear power capacity to 58 GW with an additional 30 GW under construction by 2020 and build itself into a strong nuclear power country by 2030.