David Stanway and Kathy Chen report that China will expand its strategic uranium reserves as part of its five-year plan for 2016-2020, with the aim of ensuring it has enough fuel to supply the large program of new nuclear reactors.
Beijing, which began stockpiling uranium in 2007 and is estimated by the World Nuclear Association to have 74,000 tons of inventory, or about nine years of current demand, does not disclose details of its reserves so this number may be speculation. However, demand is expected to outstrip domestic supply in coming years and a move to increase reserves could give a boost to depressed global prices. They have been importing over the last few years when the price has been low, said Sun Qin, chairman of the state-owned nuclear project developer, the China National Nuclear Corporation, adding the time was right to build up stockpiles. In its five-year plan released this week, the government said it would expand the scale of the local uranium reserves.
The Shanghai Nuclear Power estimates the China in-country uranium demand is likely to reach 11,000 tons by 2020, and rise to 24,000 tons in 2030, well outstripping production from domestic mines and China-owned mines overseas. The shortfall was expected to rise from 2,600 tons in 2020 to about 10,900 tons a decade later, it said. Increased uranium stockpiles would ensure China would not be at the mercy of supply disruptions or short-term fluctuations in market prices. The latest five-year plan also confirmed China intentions to double its nuclear generation capacity to 58 GW by the end of 2020, up from 28.3 GW at the end of last year, slightly less than 2% of their total generation capacity.
To meet the target, China, which currently has 30 operating reactors, will need to build around 6 new reactors a year, although it is expected to build well over 100 new units by 2030 as it tries to ease its dependence on fossil fuels and create a nuclear energy industry capable of competing worldwide.
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