Nuclear power in China

Résumé du document

Actual Chinese policy towards nuclear proliferation can be summed up in one figure: China wants to double its nuclear power capacity by 2020. Admittedly it will stands for "only" 5% of its energy mix, even though there are 24 reactors under construction in China at the beginning July 2009. When one knows that with 58 reactors France (63 GW installed capacity) produces about 80% of its energy, then one can realize the importance of Chinese nuclear policy. This policy comes from such statements: "Coal does not match the energy needed to cope with the dramatic growth (not to mention pollution, safety and transport issues), hydraulic raise localization issues and gas and oil are mostly imported." Thus in 2005, the National People Congress decided to raise the objectives for 2020: from 40 GW to 70 GW for the installed capacity and from 18 GW to 30 GW for the capacity to be under construction at that time. The underlying perspective is to develop the nuclear power so as to reach the global average of 20% of the country's production provided by nuclear plants; that means a 250 GW capacity within 2050, compared to 9 GW today.

Extraits

[...] Areva has employees of them in Asia.[12] Areva is currently building four EPR reactors in the world, one in Finland, a second in France and two others in China at Taishan in Guangdong province, that is to say a 8 billion euro contract 11.9 billion) with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp.[13] Areva sells 35% of its uranium production in China. Westinghouse Electric Company, founded in 1886, is now fully committed to commercial nuclear power industry. The company provides nuclear fuel, services and power plants employees work for Westinghouse Electric Company. Westinghouse is building four AP1000 in China. They also are very strong on the American, English and South African market. In 2006 Toshiba bought 77% of Westinghouse Electric Company for $ 5.4 bn and announced it would sell a minority stake to investors. [...]

[...] The first two nuclear power plants in mainland China were at Daya Bay near Hong Kong and Qinshan, south of Shanghai, with construction starting in the mid 1980s. The first project was conducted by CGNPC and the second by CNNC. Here you have the two historic electricians. Repartition of Nuclear Power Plants in China[20] Electricians enjoy much attention from the government in China since its State Council highly relies on electric power that they see as a “highly efficient and clean energy”[21]. [...]

[...] However its governors are appointed by the Premier of the State Council. Actually, CNNC monitors is not only civil nuclear but also military nuclear. Something noticeable is that CNNC is often funded by American capitals from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (the official export credit agency of the federal government), which granted a billion loan to enable CNNC buy cutting-edge nuclear reactors from Westinghouse”. Qinshan Nuclear Power Company is owned by the CNNC. It is responsible for the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang Province. [...]

[...] Westinghouse is still headquartered in the US. Westinghouse was the pioneer in civil nuclear power in the US as a major developer of commercial nuclear power stations from the end of the 1950's. They estimate that almost 50% of nuclear power plants around the world and about 60% of US plants are based on the company's technology.[14] A revived interest in the nuclear power generation field led to Westinghouse's development of the AP1000 reactor, the first Generation III+ reactor to receive final design approval from the Nuclear Regulation Commission. [...]

[...] Initial Chinese nuclear R&D was military. Apart from military facilities China has about 15 operational research reactors ranging in size up to 15 MW, and one 125 MW light water High-Flux Engineering Test Reactor (HFETR) in Sichuan province, since 1979. Early in 2007 this was converted to use low-enriched uranium, with the help of the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In 2008 SNPTC and Tsinghua University set up the State Research Centre for Nuclear Power Technology, focused on large-scale advanced PWR technology and to accelerate China's independent development of third-generation nuclear power. [...]