China will build six to eight nuclear reactors per year to meet 2030 development goals
BEIJING: China will be able to build six to eight nuclear reactors per year if project approval processes return to normal as expected in the near future, said the head of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) Monday, April 1.
"It should be enough to meet our country's 2030 development plans," said Yu Jianfeng and spoke on the sidelines of an industrial conference.
China did not approve new conventional nuclear power projects for three years before nodding to two new reactor complexes in southeast China earlier this year.
China originally planned to put 58 gigawatts of nuclear power into operation by 2020, with an additional 30 GW under construction. Total capacity stood at 46 GW at the end of last year, with 11 GW still built.
But the slowdown means that it is unlikely to meet their 2020 targets, and industry leaders have asked the state to accelerate the approval process to ensure that 2030 energy, climate, and pollution targets can be achieved.
China intends to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels to 20 percent of the total energy mix by 2030, up from 15 percent by 2020.
In a message delivered to the Monday conference, Agneta Rising, Director General of The World Nuclear Association said China needed to "show leadership and announce an accelerated phase of construction".
CNNC's Yu told the conference that the global nuclear sector was gradually "restoring confidence" after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
However, "communication problems" and "misunderstandings" among the public were one of the reasons why China has not been able to take full advantage of its production capability and increase capacity more quickly, he said.
"China's nuclear industry has made great achievements, but there are still many issues, and developments are still incomplete and unbalanced," he says, adding that China's total nuclear power plant still accounts for only 4 percent of its total generation capacity.
China promotes new advanced reactor technology, and is the first country to complete the construction of third generation models such as the Westinghouse AP1000 and the French EPR design.
Yu also told Reuters that CNNC should be ready to start building a small "modular" "nuclear reactor on the island of Hainan by the end of this year. The project was originally expected to start construction in 2017.
Last year, Yu said that China's total nuclear capacity will reach 120-150 gigawatts (GW) in total 2030, tripling the current level, but still lower than previous forecasts. [19659017]