A total of 1.75 billion yuan (280 million U.S. dollars) was invested in China's independent nuclear research and development in 2011, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on Tuesday.

Sun Qin, general manager of the CNNC, said the corporation saw investment in research and development rise 20 percent on the 2010 level.

After years of efforts, the CNNC's work in the field is bearing fruit, with successes including China's first fast reactor, advanced uranium enrichment technology and nuclear power technology, Sun added.

"We are now importing and learning nuclear power technology of the third generation," Sun said. "Based on such skills and accumulated experience, we aim to innovate and develop more advanced and safer nuclear power technology with Chinese intellectual property."

Established in 1991, Qinshan nuclear power plant, China's first nuclear power plant and designed solely by the CNNC, has been in safe operation for 20 years. By November 2011, it had generated 40.5 billion kWh of electricity, equivalent to saving 16 million tonnes of standard coal.

After Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis, the CNNC started further bolstering safety, Sun said.