BEIJING, Nov 5 (Reuters) - China is thinking of raising its already ambitious goal to expand nuclear power in the next decade by aiming for 70 gigawatts of generating capacity by 2020, an energy official told state media.

Beijing in 2006 set a national target of 40 gigawatts (GW) of installed nuclear power generating capacity by 2020, and later lifted that target to 60 GW, a goal experts have said was already a testing challenge.

But Huang Li, head of energy conservation and equipment in the National Energy Administration, said the government is weighing up whether to lift the target to 70 GW, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

"The global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions had prompted China, which relied heavily on coal, to revise its energy strategy and increase the proportion of clean energy," she told a meeting in southwest China, according to Xinhua.

She did not say when or how a firm decision on the proposal would emerge.

If the raised goal is approved and implemented, it could expand opportunities for international companies in China's nuclear power sector.

China's current nuclear capacity is only 9 GW, under 2 percent of its total installed power generation capacity.

But many local governments are keen to win the right to build a nuclear plant, because of the funds and jobs the projects can bring.

China last year sealed deals with France's Areva <CEPFi.PA> and U.S.-based, Japanese-owned Westinghouse <6502.T> for several third-generation reactors, and the blueprints to allow them to develop domestic versions. (Reporting by Chris Buckley, editing by Anthony Barker)

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