Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Although there has never been a serious nuclear accident in China, some communities are not enthusiastic about have a nuclear power plant nearby. A plan to construct a nuclear fuel facility in Guangdong was cancelled in 2013 because of public opposition. Bing Lam Luk said that more public education will be needed to alter the perception that nuclear facilities are inevitably dangerous.
Safety of nuclear power plants is becoming less of a concern because of the development of fourth-generation and small modular reactors (SMRs). Luk said that a large-scale nuclear accident would be nearly impossible. He said that this could make it possible for China to change its nuclear policy and begin construction more nuclear power plants in the interior of the country.
SMRs are more energy efficient than larger conventional nuclear power reactors. They are easier to build, transport and install. Luk said that the fourth-generation technology now being developed by Tsinghua University in Beijing replaces water with helium as a coolant. Helium is more heat resistant which reduces the risk of an explosion.
However, a study from Stanford and the University of British Columbia discovered that these new reactor designs which are touted as the future of commercial nuclear power can produce more radioactivity waste than big conventional nuclear reactors.
China’s development of fourth-generation nuclear reactors is expected to benefit from the long-established sharing of technical information among countries including China, the U.S., France, Japan, South Korea and Britian.
The cooperation between China and France started a few decades ago. China’s first two nuclear plants were constructed near Hong Kong in the mid-1980s with imported technology and are managed by the state-owned energy company Electricite de France (EDF).
Many joint ventures in China followed those first two reactors. The two countries published a joint statement in April of this year on “developing pragmatic cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy.” China and France pledged to cooperate on the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
France is ahead of China in the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and it makes sense for the two countries to work together on this problem. France is constructing a center where spent nuclear fuel can be disposed of five hundred and fifty yards underground. This geological repository is set to open in 2035. China will only begin the construction of a nuclear repository by the 2040s at the earliest.
Geopolitical tensions between China and Western nations may also be a hurdle. Last year. Britain removed a Chinese company from its Sizewell nuclear project during a souring of U.K.-China relations.
Recently, the U.S. also clamped down on its nuclear technology trade with China after decades of cooperation because of national security interests and common defense. However, China has started exporting its nuclear technology to other countries such as Pakistan.
When asked about nuclear energy’s role at COP28 this year, Luck said that nuclear power is likely to remain one of the main directions for energy transition discussions. He said that “Energy storage remains an issue for renewable energy … so nuclear path will likely keep growing steadily.”