Friday, February 15, 2008

Nuclear Power- China’s Biggest Energy Resource

by Richard York

The energy needs of the fastest growing economy of the world China are huge and the nation is looking at nuclear power as the best source of energy to fuel its exponential economic growth. China is the world’s second biggest energy consumer and hence it needs different energy resources. Nuclear power has now assumed a greater significance for China and it plans to have more nuclear power plants and this development is best seen in the East Chinese region of Shandong. The government of China is planning to construct three nuclear power plants in the Shandong province which will be distributed in the regions of Weihai and Yantai. There will be two nuclear power plants in Weihai and one will be in Yantai. These three nuclear power plants will have five nuclear reactors and the combined capacity of these plants will be over 4,000 mw. When the government builds these nuclear power plants, the Shandong province for China will assume a significant place and it will serve as the valuable nuclear power base for China.

Statistics has it that for China the nuclear power source ranks third in its power resources and hence now it has assumed a greater significance. China, at present operates 11 nuclear reactors and the overall capacity of these nuclear reactors comes to about 8,000mw. In the year that concluded all the nuclear power plants of China produced 62.9 billion KWH of power which was an increase of about 14.6% when rated against the power output for the year 2006. This was confirmed by the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense in China. Deputy Director of the Energy Research Institute, which comes under the National Development and Reform Commission or the NDRC, Han Wenke, stated that the nuclear industry of China changed from proper development to rapid development in the nuclear power sector.

When the nuclear power is compared with China’s overall production of power it makes for below 2% and this percentage is the current percentage of the nuclear power in China. The Chinese authorities have plans to increase the nuclear power capability of the nation by 40,000mw by the year 2020 and this increase in the nuclear power would amount to 4% which will be its share in China’s total power resources. Of all the power productions in the world the share of the nuclear power stands at 16% to 17%. The figures for France in this matter come to around 80%. The nuclear power plants of China are all situated in the coastal region. The coastal regions of China like Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian report that they are developing the sites so that new nuclear power plants can be started.

There are also other inland regions of China who have lined up for hosting new nuclear plants by preparing sites. Provinces like Hunan, Hubei, and Chongqing have plans to construct nuclear power plants which will be China’s first nuclear power plant situated inland. In the Zhejiang province of China the work for building the Sanmen nuclear power plant has already begun.

 

 

 

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