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| Fig. 1: Taishan nuclear plant, Guangdong, China. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Nuclear energy is widely used in China to solve its own electricity and environmental crisis. During the past years, nuclear energy in China has developed rapidly and is expected to develop even faster in the upcoming years. It is proposed that nuclear energy will become a necessity for China and would play a bigger role in future China's energy mix. [1]
The development of China's nuclear infrastructure involves four main stages: beginning phase, moderate development phase, rapid development phase and safe and efficient development phase. [2] The beginning phase was from the early 1970s to 1993, and the moderate development phase was from 1994 to 2005. [2] From 2006 to 2011, China's nuclear energy sector entered the rapid development phase. [2] After the Fukushima nuclear accident happened in 2011, China postponed all its nuclear projects for one year to adjust its strategies on operations. [2] After that, from 2012 until today, China's nuclear energy has entered the safe and efficient development phase. [2]
Fig. 1 shows the Taishan Nuclear Powerplant in Guangdong, China. It is one of the nuclear plants in operation. By January 2020, China's total nuclear power capacity had increased to 46 GW. [3] This made China's nuclear ranks third in the world, just after the United States and France. [3] To be more specific, China has 47 nuclear plants in operation, 11 under construction and several others at the planning and designing phase. [3]
Although the total nuclear power capacity in China will continue to grow through 2050, the actual amounts have high uncertainties. [3] Different estimates show that by 2050, China's nuclear capacity can range from 150 GW to 500 GW. [3] Economic, environmental, social and political factors all contribute to this uncertainty. [3]
One advantage of nuclear is that it is a clean energy source that does not emit NOx, SO2 and other greenhouse gases. [4] Also, nuclear [power can serve as a baseload clean energy source with a high reliability. [3] For instance, the sun will not shine all the time, and the wind will not always blow. Therefore, solar and wind are associated with high intermittency and are not baseload energy sources. What's more, Chinese public has a positive attitude towards nuclear energy. According to a survey from one paper, 72% of the participants support building nuclear power plants in China. [5]
One challenge is that, like the problem in other countries, nuclear energy in China also faces problems such as dealing waste. Another challenge is related to cost. The current levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for nuclear energy (¥ RMB 0.5-0.9 kWh-1) is higher than renewables such as solar (¥ RMB 0.6-0.7 kWh-1) and wind (¥ RMB 0.4-0.5 kWh-1). [4] However, the LCOE of nuclear energy is likely to be reduced to ¥ RMB 0.32 kWh-1, making it cost-competitive in China. [4]
© Chunchen Hong. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] Y. Zhou, "Why Is China Going Nuclear?," Energy Policy 38, 3755 (2010).
[2] M. Zheng et al., "Review of Nuclear Power Development in China: Environment Analysis, Historical Stages, Development Status, Problems and Countermeasures," Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 59, 1369 (2016).
[3] S. Yu et al., "The Role of Nuclear in China's Energy Future: Insights From Integrated Assessment," Energy Policy 139, 111344 (2020).
[4] Y. Xu, J. Kang, and J.Yuan, "The Prospective of Nuclear Power in China," Sustainability 10, 2086 (2018).
[5] Y. Wu, "Public Acceptance of Constructing Coastal/Inland Nuclear Power Plants in Post-Fukushima China," Energy Policy 101, 484 (2017).
