In FocusChina is building nuclear reactors faster than the West. Can it keep up the pace?
While delays and soaring costs bog down projects in the US, China’s state-directed model is moving at record speed – but geographical limits pose huge challenges
When Francois Morin, China director at the World Nuclear Association – a leading international industry body – took a group of foreign nuclear engineers to a Shanghai Electric plant last year, the scale of production caught them off guard.
Heavy machinery, from steam generators to reactor cores, was already assembled and ready for shipment to sites where construction had not even begun. The equipment towered over the delegates, many of whom were accustomed to supply chains back home that produce such components one at a time, if at all.
“It was in this place that they understood how China’s construction capability compared to Western ones,” Morin said.
By contrast, the United States – still the global leader in nuclear capacity – added just two new units over the same period, hampered by lengthy delays and financing challenges.
“In terms of continuity in construction experience, China is now the only country in the world that has that,” said Victor Nian, founding co-chairman of the Centre for Strategic Energy and Resources think tank based in Singapore.