China Doubles Down

Beijing presses forward with its reactor building boom By Peter Fairley
Chinas surging economy runs mostly on coal, which
are complete. But Yang says that safety concerns may cause China to focus its efforts on the Westinghouse AP1000 instead slakes four-fifths of the countrys thirst for electricity. And all of the CPR1000. Modest cost made the CPR-1000 attracover China, the consequences of that dependence are apparent: tive, but like Fukushimas second-generation reactors, its Its major cities are swathed in deadly smog, regional blackouts emergency cooling systems require electricity. The third- ensue when coal trains bog down on clogged rail networks, generation AP1000 reactor, in contrast, has a passive cooling and coal mining routinely kills more than 2000 people a year. system: waterstored atop the plants pressure vessel, ready to China desperately needs alternatives to coal-fired power. be gravity-fed to the reactor core below. So Beijing has launched an aggressive plan to decarbonMeanwhile Chinas state-owned utilities have raced far ize Chinas economy by pushing nuclear and renewable ahead of Beijings official goals for renewable energy. More than energy to 15 percent of energy consumption by 2020, up from 40 GW of wind power was installed by the end of 2010, smash9.5 percent last year. Nuclear generating capacity would rise ing the 5 GW target set by Beijing three years earlier. to over 80 gigawatts from the 11.3 GW currently in place. As Chinas investments could transform the country by mida result, analysts expect China to meet its environmental goal century. A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report for 2020: to reduce carbon emissions per yuan of economic projects that China could install as much as 550 GW of nuclear output by 40 percent compared with 2005 levels. capacity and 970 GW of wind, hydro, and solar power by 2050. To meet its nuclear numbers, China has embarked on the Combined with energy efficiency upgrades, that surge of lowworlds biggest reactor building program. Beijing has stancarbon electricity would slash Chinas annual CO2 emissions dardized its nuclear juggernaut around two pressurized water reactor designs: the Chinese/French CPR-1000, designed in from power generation to nearly one-fifth their current level. the 1990s, and Westinghouse Electrics AP1000, designed Yang sees a possibility that Chinas central planners could in the 2000s. The country is turning both types out at high build enough momentum within a decade to leave the United speed. According to the World Nuclear Association, 14 reacStates behind if Washington doesnt adopt carbon-reduction tors were operating as of September, and 26 more were under measures to drive its economy off coal. If the U.S. policy construction. Chinas Ministry of Environmental Protection makers continue to postpone, says Yang, the U.S. may has said that 100 reactors may be feeding the grid by 2020. someday find itself unable to catch up. o They are not just building nuclear power plants. They are building an entire industry, says Chi-Jen Yang, a technology policy expert at Duke Universitys Center on Global Change. Nevertheless, the Fukushima disaster has highlighted the risks of Chinas aggressive nuclear build-out. In Fukushimas wake Chinese leaders put new reactor projects on hold while they reviewed the safety of existing ones. Officials concerned by a potential shortfall of trained reactor operators and inspectors suggested trimming Chinas 2020 goal for more than 80 GW nuclear capacity by 10 GW or so. Experts also worry that corrupt management of the build-out could affect the safety of Chinas reactors. As Yang puts it: If everything is done well, the risks should be low. But we dont know if everything is done correctly. China may well resume all of its planned Growth Industry: Work is under way on 26 new reactors in China, including Fukushima reviews projects once the post- this pressurized water reactor in Fujian province. PHOTO: ZHANG GUOJUN/XINHUA/REDUX
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NA iEEE Spectrum november 2011
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