Dr. Conca reports that President Obama and President Xi Jinping were upbeat in announcing another significant step in their joint climate efforts, signaling that both countries will sign the Paris Agreement and take the domestic steps needed to join the Agreement as early as possible this year. However, the failure to restrain North Korea, and the Chinese military build-up in the South China Sea, caused some anxiety at the summit. Even though President Xi has declared that China would not pursue militarization of these strategic waterways, it appears that they are doing just that. The neighboring countries of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam are getting nervous. China has a strong interest in nuclear security. China plans to spend over a trillion dollars to become the largest producer of nuclear power. They will build 40 new reactors by 2020, another hundred by 2030, and over 200 additional reactors by 2050. Their new Five-Year Plan puts China on track to meet this ambitious schedule.
Two of the new Chinese CPR-1000 nuclear reactors began supplying electricity to the grid, one in the Liaoning province and one in the Fujian province. The rush to expand nuclear power comes from the tremendous air pollution from existing coal-fired power plants currently operating in China. Coupled with the need to double their energy production in order to move their population into the middle class, it is no wonder nuclear, and many other forms of generation, is being ramped up so much and so fast. Not only does China want to replace its old coal fleet with new nuclear plants, it wants to become the leading exporter of nuclear technology as well, including heavy components in the supply chain where the real global bottleneck on nuclear expansion rests. Their recent nuclear deals in U.K. and Europe are indications that this path is bearing fruit. But, China is also building up its military forces, weapons, and cyber attacks as well... See: http://map.norsecorp.com/#/ Read on ..
Original URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/04/03/fallout-from-the-nuclear-security-summit/#2d78611062f7
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
