A construction site by China National Nuclear Corporation in Fuqing, Fujian province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China Nuclear Engineering Corp, the country's major nuclear power plant builder, listed its shares on the Shanghai Stock Market on Monday, as part of its efforts to fund its nuclear power projects.

The company saw its shares surge 44 percent from the opening price, to close at 5 yuan (76 cents) per share. It issued 525 million shares on the A-share market, accounting for one-fifth of its total shares.

"We have finally become a public company after all these years of effort. This is a milestone for our company, and we will cherish this opportunity and strengthen our core capacity and profitability," said Gu Jun, chairman of CNEC.

The company had been preparing for its listing since 2010, but the process was delayed by Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

The State-owned company got approval for an initial public offering earlier last month from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

CNEC, which claimed to be the only company working nonstop in the nuclear construction industry for the past three decades, said it would use funds from the listing to buy nuclear construction equipment and expand its nuclear power plant construction.

The Beijing-based company has completed construction of the nuclear islands of 24 units at such sites as Hongyan River in Liaoning province, Taishan in Guangdong province and Sanmen in Zhejiang province.

CNEC has developed its own nuclear high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, an indigenous nuclear technology, jointly with Tsinghua University.

In 2015, it inked a framework agreement with Saudi Arabia to promote this homegrown fourth-generation nuclear technology in the Middle East country.

Tang Xiao, a senior analyst at GF Securities Co, said that there will be an increasing demand for nuclear power in China because the country has embarked on a massive nuclear construction plan, as a way to optimize its energy mix.

Tang estimated that net profit of the nuclear power plant builder would keep growing at a rate of 9.8 percent, 10.2 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively, for the next three years.