AsiaElec: China makes advances in nuclear power capacity

China is quietly upping its reliance on nuclear energy.

So much so that with 53 plants now operating across the country, Beijing is generating a level of electricity capacity currently ranked as third in the world.

In the next five years, this number is expected to rapidly approach 100 plants online as 23 new nuclear power facilities currently under construction come online, and multiple other projects are given the green light by the central government in Beijing.

In moves highlighted domestically by the nation’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), the increased reliance on nuclear is also lending considerable support to efforts to move away one day from a reliance on coal into less polluting forms of electricity capacity generation.

As one of China’s five leading electricity generators, SPIC supplies electricity to much of the eastern seaboard, including Shanghai, the financial heart of the nation. The state-owned enterprise also counts among its subsidiaries China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation.

In a report published in domestic media, Wu Fang, general engineer for nuclear development at SPIC, highlighted a number of areas in which nuclear power has “developed greatly” across China over the past decade.

Most prominently, this is seen in the city of Haiyang in Shandong Province in the north-east of the country; this city is now noted as the first in China to have reached a state of zero-emissions, even during the winter months.

Haiyang is home to a pair of nuclear units currently reported to be generating well in excess of 80bn kWh of electricity per year.

Accounts from the SPIC equate this to around 33mn tonnes of coal, which in turn has cut CO2 emissions by over 60mn tonnes.

The city achieved its zero emissions status in November of 2021, making the fast approaching winter the second year of citywide energy supply achieved by way of nuclear power with no CO2 output.