Nuclear deal buoys Chinese companies

The nuclear cooperation agreement signed between China and South Africa will help Chinese companies win more orders in the African nation's nuclear program, experts said on Wednesday.

The deal is also expected to give a fillip to China's third-generation nuclear power technology known as CAP1400, based on technology used in the AP 1000 reactor technology of Westinghouse, a source from the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp told China Daily.

But the source said that commercial nuclear power cooperation is still in the early stages, since nuclear energy always involves governments.