I have blogged before about the Chinese ambitions for nuclear power. They are strongly committed to building dozens of new nuclear reactors in the next decade. China General Nuclear Power (CGN) is China's biggest nuclear company. It is a state-owned firm. CGN is making shares available on the Hong Kong stock exchange. They are going to try to raise over three billion dollars in the biggest stock listing on the H.K. exchange and the biggest utility IPO in the World this year.
Things have not gone well for the nuclear industry since the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Japan is cautiously starting its nuclear fleet again but a third of its reactors may not be able to be operated under the new safety rules. The dropping price of oil and natural gas has slowed new reactor projects in the U.S. Germany is abandoning all nuclear power and other European nations are reconsidering nuclear projects. China slowed down its nuclear power projects after Fukushima but supporters of nuclear power there have regained their momentum and are pushing ahead. China wants to triple nuclear energy production by 2020 with new reactors being built mainly along the eastern coast. China is desperate to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions.
China has been very generous in the past with state-owned enterprises in so-called strategic industrial sectors such as energy production. However, China's economic growth is slowing and they are dealing with massive debt left over from previous investment projects that did not prove to be as lucrative as anticipated. China's growth has been based on exports and investments but those engines are losing steam. Officials are under pressure to increase domestic consumption and there is more caution now about throwing big government money at investment projects.
Other technologies such as renewable power sources are advancing rapidly and could help solve pollution and carbon dioxide problems. One analysis of China's energy sources projects that offshore wind farms will be the cheapest form of energy in China by 2030. The analysis estimates that renewable sources will be generating three times as much electricity as nuclear power sources by 2030. Unfortunately, coal will continue to be the primary source of electricity in China for the near future.
China could have chosen to utilize well tested nuclear technology and designs from other nuclear powers but has, instead, opted to develop their own domestic nuclear reactors designs. This adds an unnecessary set of problems and potential delays that could affect their nuclear plans. There are future plans to export nuclear technology but these plans could be hampered by the lack of a single standard China reactor design. There are several other big state-owned nuclear technology companies and they are pursuing different reactor designs that CGN. Some critics of the bold nuclear power plans point out that there are still a lot of unanswered questions around nuclear safety for the new reactor designs.
As I have mentioned a number of times in other blogs, one of the biggest problems with nuclear power is the fact that one more big accident like Fukushima and public support and investor interest in nuclear power will evaporate. China has problems with official corruption and, if that corruption reaches into the nuclear regulators, the dangers of a major nuclear accident in China will increase. The Chinese people would be better served if the Chinese government were to forget nuclear power and pursue renewable energy sources.
