Technical personnel check China’s HL-2M nuclear fusion device, known as the 'artificial sun', at a research laboratory in Chengdu, in Sichuan province in December 2020. This was hailed by state media as a great advance in the country's nuclear power research capabilities (AFP file pic).
China now has 55 nuclear power plants in operation, plus another 24 under construction, according to a report by state news agency Xinhua, which cited the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA), and said this was the second largest total for any country in the world.
“The Chinese mainland has 55 nuclear power units in operation with a combined installed capacity of 57 gigawatts (GW), and 24 units under construction with a total installed capacity of 27.8 GW,” CNEA official Wang Binghua was quoted as saying at a meeting in Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province earlier this week.
Some 21 new nuclear power units had been approved on the mainland since 2021, Wang said, adding that six to eight nuclear power units are expected to given a green light every year for “the foreseeable future”.
Nuclear power is expected to contribute about 10% of the power generation on the Chinese mainland by 2035 and that figure was expected to rise to 18% by 2060, for a total generation capacity of 400 GW, “as the country strives to meet its carbon neutrality goal,” the report said, quoting Wang.
The news comes after several months in which the country has been battered by extreme weather events that caused damage estimated at close to $6 billion.
Read the full report: Xinhua.
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