China has powered up its first domestically-built nuclear reactor, and the construction of 6 more are underway at home and abroad. According to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) the country’s first reactor using Hualong One technology was successfully connected to the grid and started generating electricity at the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant in the southeast Fujian Province on Friday morning. The announcement was made with hopes that China will become more energy-independent and to export its design across the globe.
This accomplishment means that China has “broken the monopoly of foreign nuclear power technology and officially entered the ranks of advanced countries in nuclear power”, CNNC said. This “further enhances the confidence of countries in China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Awakening the Dragon”, it added. So, clearly, this development was not just meant for domestic consumption alone, but to take China’s prestige to another level. We all know how China has been using its Belt and Road Initiative to influence its neighboring countries and beyond and thus indebting them. But I hope this leverage will advance cooperation with nations in need of civilian nuclear power.
We are told that the reactor, which was connected to the national grid on Friday, can generate 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year and cut carbon emissions by 8.16 million tons. So, this new technology is definitely welcome as the world is envisaging clean energy at a moment when the global GHG emissions are at an all time high. If China safely commercializes this, then the developing world might have to transition and follow suit in the use of this technology and give up fossil fuels for the sake of climate change.
Marcus,
This would seem to be a significant milestone for the Chinese. As you well know from the other course on global climate change, China is now the largest emitter of GHGs and they are still building coal-fired plants as well. Perhaps the successful completion of the indigenous, civilian nuclear plant will convince them to abandon some (if not all) of these coal-fired plants. As for the impact on the One-Belt; One Road initiative, I guess only time will tell. But given the cost of nuclear plants, it’s hard to see how the cooperating countries to purchase them without substantial loans from the Chinese, which has as you point out created serious indebtedness problems in recent years.
–Professor Wallerstein