Nuclear power role in China’s green goals grows

BEIJING: China is expected to further expand its installed nuclear power capacity during the 2022-2025 period as the country goes full speed ahead with its green energy transition, eyeing carbon neutrality by 2060, says an industry group.

Prompted by the goal of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, China is expected to approve six to eight new nuclear units each year between 2022 and 2025, said Wang Shoujun, president of the Chinese Nuclear Society.

He said this at the opening ceremony of the 29th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering held in Beijing.

“Installed capacity of nuclear power under operation is expected to reach 70 million kilowatts by 2025 from the current 55.8 million kw and nuclear power is expected to account for 10% of China’s total power generation by 2035, compared with 5% in 2021,” he said.

Wang said that after more than 30 years of development, China has risen from being a novice to a pioneer in the nuclear power industry, with huge progress in localising nuclear technology.

This include its third-generation Hualong One pressurised water nuclear reactor design, a Chinese reactor with full proprietary intellectual property rights, which is also one of the most widely accepted third-generation nuclear power reactors in the market.

In addition, the country has been consistently pushing forward research and development of large advanced pressurised water reactors and high temperature gas-cooled reactors.

It has made numerous technological breakthroughs in onshore commercial modular small reactor construction as well as numerous advanced nuclear energy systems, he said.

Wang added that as a stable and reliable clean and low-carbon type of energy, nuclear power is an important energy source boosting China’s green development.