This week, China gave the go-ahead to build two more nuclear power plants in the south of the country. This brings the total number of recently approved nuclear power units to ten in 2022, which is the most in more than a decade.
China last gave permission for more nuclear power plants in 2008, when 14 new ones were given the green light.
The Chinese cabinet, the State Council, met on Tuesday and approved the first phase of the Lianjiang project in Guangdong province and the second phase of the Zhangzhou project in the southeast of Fujian province. The meeting was led by Premier Li Keqiang.
Official media say that the two goals are to increase energy capacity and promote green development.
China quickly gave the go-ahead for new nuclear power plants, even though there were terrible power shortages last year and this year that shut down businesses and forced electricity rationing in many places.
A business news site called Yicai.com says that the projects that were approved this week will cost about $11.5 billion.
The first phase of Lianjiang will be run by State Power Investment, which is the largest producer of renewable energy in the world. The second phase of Zhangzhou will be run by China National Nuclear Corporation, which is also owned by the government.
The Paper, an online tabloid, said that the 10 units that will be allowed to invest this year will spend about 29 billion dollars.
As of the end of June 2022, China had 54 nuclear power reactors running, with a total installed capacity of 55.78 million kilowatts. This put it in third place in the world. The most nuclear power units in the world are being built or have already been approved. There are 23 of them.
About 5% of China’s energy comes from nuclear power, which makes up 2% of the country’s installed power capacity.
Wang Shoujun, chairperson of the Chinese Nuclear Society, said this at a recent seminar. Between 2022 and 2025, China will speed up the expansion of installed capacity and keep the authorised start-up rate of 6–8 nuclear power units per year.
There are about 70 million kilowatts of nuclear power in use. Wang says that by 2035, 10% of all the electricity China makes will come from nuclear energy.
The last two projects were approved at a State Council meeting where plant safety was given a lot of attention.
China had to shut down a reactor at a nuclear power plant in the southern province of Guangdong in July 2021 to fix broken fuel rods.
China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), which runs the Taishan nuclear plant in Guangdong province, said in a statement that Unit 1 had been turned off after “lengthy” talks with technicians.
Technical specialists from France and China conferred for a long time before deciding to shut down Unit 1 of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant for repairs, as reported by CGN. “A tiny amount of fuel damage” had happened while the reactor was running, CGN said. Damage made people worry that there might be a leak.
