Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 48 2022

AsiaElec NUCLEAR AsiaElec

China makes advances in

nuclear power capacity

CHINA CHINA is quietly upping its reliance on nuclear achieved by way of nuclear power with no CO2
energy. output.
So much so that with 53 plants now operating One of the colder areas in China during the
across the country, Beijing is generating a level winter months, average temperatures in Janu-
of electricity capacity currently ranked as third ary rarely get above zero. As such, the nuclear
in the world. heating infrastructure in the province is being
In the next five years, this number is expected lauded as the “epitome of China’s nuclear power
to rapidly approach 100 plants online as 23 development achievements in recent years” and
new nuclear power facilities currently under the country’s wider“development orientation for
construction come online, and multiple other the future.”
projects are given the green light by the central At present, SPIC’s total capacity stands at
government in Beijing. slightly over 200 GW. Of this it is understood
In moves highlighted domestically by the green energy capacity is approaching the 130
nation’s State Power Investment Corporation GW mark, well over 60% of the total.
(SPIC), the increased reliance on nuclear is According to Wu Fang, “(The) success of the
also lending considerable support to efforts project has provided a new model for the devel-
to one day move away from a reliance on coal opment of the nuclear energy industry, proving
into less polluting forms of electricity capacity that nuclear energy is not limited to generating
generation. electricity.”
As one of China’s five leading electricity gen- Wu was careful not to declare nuclear power
erators, SPIC supplies electricity to much of the or the project in Haiyang a demonstration that
eastern seaboard including Shanghai, the finan- nuclear energy alone was the way forward for
cial heart of the nation. The state-owned enter- China.
prise also counts among its subsidiaries China’s As pressure mounts to move away from coal
State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation. and close down dozens of ageing coal power
In a report published in domestic media, Wu plants (CPPs), even President Xi Jinping has
Fang, general engineer for nuclear development gone on record calling for increased investment
at SPIC highlighted a number of areas in which in renewables projects, most notably wind, solar
nuclear power has “developed greatly” across and biomass.
China over the past decade. Beijing is also known to be interested in at
Most prominently, this is seen in the city of least keeping up with neighbours Japan and
Haiyang in Shandong Province in the north east South Korea in developing its own hydrogen
of the country; a city now noted as the first in infrastructure in the coming years; a point con-
China to have reached a state of zero-emissions, firmed by President Xi during a visit to northern
even during the winter months. China earlier this year.
Haiyang is home to a pair of nuclear units For now though, as Wu correctly predicts
currently reported to be generating well in excess “Nuclear energy is expected to play a greater role
of 80 billion kw/h of electricity per year. in promoting green and low-carbon develop-
Accounts from the SPIC equate this to around ment, and (to) contribute more to China’s reali-
33 million tons of coal which in turn has cut CO2 zation of its carbon peak and carbon neutrality”
emissions by over 60 million tons. as the world moves closer and closer to promises
The city achieved its zero emissions status in made at COP26 and 27, and on the home front
November of 2021, making the fast approaching China moves closer to its domestic pledge to
winter the second year of citywide energy supply reach carbon neutrality by 2060.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 29•November•2022