Page 206 - 2018 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 206
8 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
those dams may not begin until the next Five Year Plan The Energy Work Guidance Opinion for 2017 declared
(Magee and Hennig). that China would complete construction of five nuclear
reactors and start construction on eight more in 2017. The
Yunnan’s exports to its Southeast Asian neighbors completed projects would add 6.41 gigawatts of nuclear
will continue to be modest compared to Guangdong. energy capacity. The administration also said they were
Just as planners are keen to export Yunnan’s hydropower planning to start construction at more sites and begin
to Guangdong, China as a whole is keen to export its planning on eight future sites. China was back on its 13th
planning expertise. Plans for region-wide power grids Five Year Plan track. Under that plan, over the next five
linking ASEAN states will facilitate transmission of years China aims to have all four Sanmen and Haiyang
electricity across national borders, even if the financial AP1000 units in operation by the end of 2017. It also
arrangements for such transfers prove more complicated. aims to develop Hualong One demonstration projects at
And because hydropower output can be changed almost Fuqing and Fangchenggang and begin construction on
instantaneously it can effectively balance the increasing the CAP1400 demonstration project at Shidaowan. China
share of intermittent renewable electricity sources on will also start building a number of coastal nuclear power
grids. Maintenance, curtailment, fluctuations in demand, plants and carry out preliminary work for inland projects.
and unforeseen shutdowns mean that the average output That makes 36 nuclear power reactors in operation in
of a plant is always less than its maximum possible. But China, 21 under construction, and more about to start
there are large differences between technologies. Where construction. Additional reactors are planned, including
the capacity factors for thermal plants might be as high some of the world’s most advanced, to give a doubling
as 90 percent, for hydropower it hovers around 40 to 50 of nuclear capacity to at least 58 gigawatts by 2020-21,
percent because rivers and dams have competing uses then up to 150-250 gigawatts by 2030, and much more
such as hydropower, flood control, ecosystem needs, by 2050 (Wang).
and transportation. As leaders in China and elsewhere
look to reduce dependence on polluting energy sources, China intends to become self-sufficient not just in
hydropower’s role will only grow in importance. Yunnan’s nuclear power plant capacity, but also in the production
high levels of hydropower development, then, can either of fuel for those plants. At this point, the country still relies
be seen as over-exploitation of a resource in sensitive on foreign suppliers for all stages of the fuel cycle, from
areas, or as one of many steps in moving toward a less uranium mining through fabrication and reprocessing,
carbon-intensive energy future (Magee and Hennig). but mostly for uranium supply. As China rapidly increases
the number of new reactors, it has also initiated a number
Nuclear Power of domestic projects, often in cooperation with foreign
suppliers, to meet its nuclear fuel needs. The national
2016 was a frustrating year for China’s nuclear power policy is to obtain about one third of uranium supply
industry. Construction was started on only one new domestically, one third from Chinese equity in foreign
plant, and its target of bringing 58 gigawatts of nuclear mines, and one third on the open market. Increasingly,
capacity in service by 2020 seemed impossible to meet. other stages of the fuel cycle will be indigenous. China
China only had a total of 19.3 gigawatts of nuclear National Nuclear Corporation maintains a strong
supply under construction and a further 31.4 gigawatts monopoly on the nuclear fuel cycle in China, notably
already in service. The country faced a shortfall of more the front end but also the main operator in the fuel cycle
than seven gigawatts from its target given that new back end (China’s Nuclear).
plants take five years or more to build. All the plants
started between 2008 and 2010 were online except for China is also experimenting in new small-scale nuclear
six imported reactors. The completions of those plants reactor designs that could be used in isolated regions
were not expected until 2017 and at least three years such as on ships and even aircraft. Before the end of 2017,
late, an unprecedented delay in China’s nuclear history. China National Nuclear Corporation is set to launch a small
It would be surprising if China was not disillusioned with modular reactor dubbed the“Nimble Dragon”with a pilot
its suppliers and their technologies. There are no obvious plant on the island province of Hainan (Stanway). China’s
problems that account for the majority of the delays little nuclear power plant could also soon be installed
at any of the sites, just a series of quality and planning in one of the islands in the disputed South China Sea to
issues that suggest the complexity of the design makes it supply power to households. The small modular reactor
difficult to build (Thomas, For China). (SMR) is capable of running for decades without refueling
206
those dams may not begin until the next Five Year Plan The Energy Work Guidance Opinion for 2017 declared
(Magee and Hennig). that China would complete construction of five nuclear
reactors and start construction on eight more in 2017. The
Yunnan’s exports to its Southeast Asian neighbors completed projects would add 6.41 gigawatts of nuclear
will continue to be modest compared to Guangdong. energy capacity. The administration also said they were
Just as planners are keen to export Yunnan’s hydropower planning to start construction at more sites and begin
to Guangdong, China as a whole is keen to export its planning on eight future sites. China was back on its 13th
planning expertise. Plans for region-wide power grids Five Year Plan track. Under that plan, over the next five
linking ASEAN states will facilitate transmission of years China aims to have all four Sanmen and Haiyang
electricity across national borders, even if the financial AP1000 units in operation by the end of 2017. It also
arrangements for such transfers prove more complicated. aims to develop Hualong One demonstration projects at
And because hydropower output can be changed almost Fuqing and Fangchenggang and begin construction on
instantaneously it can effectively balance the increasing the CAP1400 demonstration project at Shidaowan. China
share of intermittent renewable electricity sources on will also start building a number of coastal nuclear power
grids. Maintenance, curtailment, fluctuations in demand, plants and carry out preliminary work for inland projects.
and unforeseen shutdowns mean that the average output That makes 36 nuclear power reactors in operation in
of a plant is always less than its maximum possible. But China, 21 under construction, and more about to start
there are large differences between technologies. Where construction. Additional reactors are planned, including
the capacity factors for thermal plants might be as high some of the world’s most advanced, to give a doubling
as 90 percent, for hydropower it hovers around 40 to 50 of nuclear capacity to at least 58 gigawatts by 2020-21,
percent because rivers and dams have competing uses then up to 150-250 gigawatts by 2030, and much more
such as hydropower, flood control, ecosystem needs, by 2050 (Wang).
and transportation. As leaders in China and elsewhere
look to reduce dependence on polluting energy sources, China intends to become self-sufficient not just in
hydropower’s role will only grow in importance. Yunnan’s nuclear power plant capacity, but also in the production
high levels of hydropower development, then, can either of fuel for those plants. At this point, the country still relies
be seen as over-exploitation of a resource in sensitive on foreign suppliers for all stages of the fuel cycle, from
areas, or as one of many steps in moving toward a less uranium mining through fabrication and reprocessing,
carbon-intensive energy future (Magee and Hennig). but mostly for uranium supply. As China rapidly increases
the number of new reactors, it has also initiated a number
Nuclear Power of domestic projects, often in cooperation with foreign
suppliers, to meet its nuclear fuel needs. The national
2016 was a frustrating year for China’s nuclear power policy is to obtain about one third of uranium supply
industry. Construction was started on only one new domestically, one third from Chinese equity in foreign
plant, and its target of bringing 58 gigawatts of nuclear mines, and one third on the open market. Increasingly,
capacity in service by 2020 seemed impossible to meet. other stages of the fuel cycle will be indigenous. China
China only had a total of 19.3 gigawatts of nuclear National Nuclear Corporation maintains a strong
supply under construction and a further 31.4 gigawatts monopoly on the nuclear fuel cycle in China, notably
already in service. The country faced a shortfall of more the front end but also the main operator in the fuel cycle
than seven gigawatts from its target given that new back end (China’s Nuclear).
plants take five years or more to build. All the plants
started between 2008 and 2010 were online except for China is also experimenting in new small-scale nuclear
six imported reactors. The completions of those plants reactor designs that could be used in isolated regions
were not expected until 2017 and at least three years such as on ships and even aircraft. Before the end of 2017,
late, an unprecedented delay in China’s nuclear history. China National Nuclear Corporation is set to launch a small
It would be surprising if China was not disillusioned with modular reactor dubbed the“Nimble Dragon”with a pilot
its suppliers and their technologies. There are no obvious plant on the island province of Hainan (Stanway). China’s
problems that account for the majority of the delays little nuclear power plant could also soon be installed
at any of the sites, just a series of quality and planning in one of the islands in the disputed South China Sea to
issues that suggest the complexity of the design makes it supply power to households. The small modular reactor
difficult to build (Thomas, For China). (SMR) is capable of running for decades without refueling
206
