BEIJING - Construction on a nuclear security center jointly financed by China and the United States began in Beijing on Tuesday.

Construction of the Center of Excellence on Nuclear Security is scheduled to be completed by 2015, according to Wang Yiren, vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA).

Located in the Changyang science and technology park in the southwestern outskirts of Beijing, the center will be equipped with environmental labs, response force exercise facilities, test sites for physical protection, and buildings for technology display and training, experiments and scientific research.

The center is designed to become a regional center that will serve as a platform for training and technological exchanges.

The center, an idea originally put forward by former Chinese president Hu Jintao in April 2010 during the Washington Nuclear Security Summit, will bolster nuclear security capacities in China and throughout Asia, Wang said.

China and the US signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the center during Hu's state visit to Washington in January 2011.

CAEA chairman Ma Xingrui and US Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz were present at Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony.