Insiders from the industry in China have said that the country’s need for nuclear energy is about to increase in the near future. The nuclear power demand in China is likely to increase as it will lower its reliance on coal-fired power and reduce air pollution.
Zheng Mingguang, the head of Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute said, “As demand for energy has outstripped domestic sources of supply, China’s nuclear power industry will expand more quickly than anticipated in the next two decades to better manage the nation’s energy structure and deal with environmental problems”. After the massive nuclear crisis in Japan in 2011, China decided to reduce its nuclear power capacity target to 58 gigawatts – from the original target of 80 to 90 gW – for 2020.
However, even the lower target still places China at the top of the world’s largest nuclear markets. The state-owned nuclear companies are hoping to move into the international arena by selling domestic reactor designs and technology. The chairman of State Nuclear Power Technology Corp, Wang Binghua explained that the country has intellectual property rights for the third-generation nuclear power technology, which is known as the CAP1400.
China owns the IP rights, which means that the country can even export its reactors. Wang went on to say that countries like South Africa and the United Kingdom have target markets for CAP1400 technology.
Photo Credits: Live Mint
