Takayuki Nakagawa and Keiichiro Azuma, in China, report that under President Xi Jinping, China is accelerating efforts to become a nuclear power plant superpower. In late January, the Chinese government released its first white paper on nuclear power generation and declared that the country aims to become the world leader in this kind of generation by 2030. China is constructing nuclear power plants at a pace that is little short of frenetic. Besides becoming a leader in nuclear power generation, the country also aims to grab a large slice of the world market in the nuclear power plant field based on its achievements in the industry. In May 2015, construction of the first Hualong reactor began for the Fuqing nuclear power plant in Fujian Province. Construction of the same type of model began late last year at the Fangchenggang plant. The reactor is designed to have a capacity of about 1 million kilowatts. The white paper released by the Chinese government officially disclosed all details about the Chinese nuclear power plants. Until then, researchers in other countries had to rely mainly on information from the media. At present, 30 nuclear reactors are operational in China, the fourth-highest number in the world. The pace of development is rapid because six of them started operations last year and two of them became operational last month. It now has 24 reactors under construction, construction of six began last year, the highest number in the world. For the Xi administration, which has been pressed to take measures to resolve the country serious air pollution, it is a vital task to move further from the current situation where coal accounts for about 70% of energy to a future in which clean energy resources are used, mainly nuclear power.
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Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-