China to Help Build 30 Nuclear Power Plants Along New Silk Road

Plans to build 30 nuclear reactors along Silk Road

Even though a top governing body expressed safety concerns that cancelled the building of two nuclear reactors in the country, China aims to continue developing its nuclear energy technology for export to other countries.

China plans on developing 30 nuclear power plants by 2030 in countries along the Belt and Road initiative, a collection of countries along the Silk Road in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

As ambitious as that is, it appears that China is looking to capture a larger share of the pie.

Sun Qin, president of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), said 70 countries are already planning or developing 130 nuclear power stations by 2020. That means competition to supply the technology for these nuclear reactors will be fierce.

“We also face very strong competition in the international nuclear market,” said Sun. “Countries like Russia, South Korea, Japan and the United States are all exploring the global nuclear market aggressively.”

As one of China’s three nuclear giants, the CNNC has in place bilateral agreements to develop nuclear energy projects with Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Britain, France and Jordan. Through previous cooperations, the CNNC has helped develop six nuclear reactors, five miniature neutron source reactors, twonuclear research facilities and one experimental reactor.

The CNNC has been using Hualong One, a third-generation nuclear reactor design, as a way to “accelerate” development of its flagship project in Fuqing, Fujian. As China Daily reported, it’s this technology and experience that the CNNC hopes to boost its nuclear energy exports.

However, China put the brakes on domestic nuclear development when the State Council Information Office expressed safety concerns in a white paper published a month ago. “China’s nuclear emergency response [system] still has certain inadequacies in terms of technology, equipment, human resources, capacity and standards,” read the report in part. The safety concerns were enough to shutter the construction of two next-generation nuclear power plants in Guangdong.

Just months before that, China had unveiled a massive plan that would see the construction of 110 nuclear power plants in China by 2030. Draft proposals for the upcoming 13th five-year plan (2016-20) would allocate 500 billion yuan ($78 billion) to build six to eight new nuclear power plants every year for the next five years. The plans had also called for the development of “floating, mobile nuclear reactors” that can be moved from one part of the sea to another.

While China looks to develop nuclear energy as a way to wean itself off fossil fuels that pollute many of its major cities, the urgency with which it does so is alarming some critics.

Physicist He Zuoxiu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has called the pace and scope of China’s nuclear energy ambitions “insane”. “China currently does not have enough experience to make sound judgments on whether there could be accidents,” He said, adding that “The number of reactors and the amount of time they have been operating safely both matter.”

According to the National Energy Administration, China has 30 nuclear power plants generating a capacity of 28 million gigawatts. Another 24 units are currently under construction.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor