China’s nuclear power construction begins to accelerate

In 2025, China’s nuclear power construction entered the full sprint stage. With the successive commissioning of new commercial reactors, China’s nuclear power technology is changing from a follower to a leader, accelerating the arrival of a new era of global clean energy.

Data show that in 2024, China will have 57 nuclear power units in operation (excluding Taiwan), with an installed capacity of 59.4317 million kilowatts. Nuclear power accounts for less than 2% of the installed capacity, contributing 4.7% of the country’s power generation.

In 2024, two nuclear power units will be put into operation in my country. At the same time, multiple projects are under construction or planned to start, involving six provinces, including Shandong, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, with an installed capacity of more than 27 million kilowatts.

The International Energy Agency predicts that from 2024 to 2026, the world will add 29 million kilowatts of nuclear power capacity. Although not all of China’s projects under construction will be put into production during this period, it is certain that the actual share will account for the majority.

The International Atomic Energy Agency pointed out that China currently ranks first in the list of “commercial reactors under construction in the world” with 28 reactors, which is more than the following India (7), Russia (4), and South Korea (2) combined.

The first nuclear power plant designed and built by China, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, was connected to the grid and put into operation only 34 years ago, and its initial power generation capacity was only 300,000 kilowatts.

In more than 30 years, China’s nuclear power installed capacity has increased by about 200 times, which can be said to be a leap forward.

The Huffington Post of the United States pointed out that China has become a “superstar” in the world’s nuclear energy technology.

Taking the third-generation nuclear power technology of “Hualong One” with completely independent intellectual property rights as an example, a single unit generates more than 10 billion kWh of electricity per year and can reduce carbon emissions by 8.16 million tons.

In addition to being efficient and green, due to the design of double-layer containment, passive cooling system, and 5-layer in-depth defense, “Hualong One” has strong international competitiveness with its leading safety and reliability.

Mordor Intelligence, an economic research organization, estimates that by 2030, the global nuclear power scale will reach 440 million kilowatts, and South Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East are all vibrant emerging markets.

The “Hualong One” not only passed the strict review of the British side, but was also successfully exported to Argentina and Pakistan, “further enhancing the world’s confidence in China’s nuclear power technology.”

In November 2024, the “Hualong One” technology was collected by the National Museum of China, becoming a witness to the era of mankind’s peaceful use of nuclear energy.

In addition, my country has also made breakthrough progress in the field of small modular reactors (SMRs).

Due to its low cost, wide range of uses, and flexible deployment, technology giants such as Google and Microsoft have joined the game and bet on SMRs to cope with the AI ​​”power shortage”.

Compared with the West, my country has taken the lead in taking a key step. At the end of 2024, at the Changjiang Nuclear Power Base in Hainan, the world’s first onshore commercial small reactor “Linglong One” main power supply reverse power transmission work will be completed, and the technical level will rank among the top in the world.

As the fourth-generation nuclear power technology that uses new coolants to replace water matures, my country may be able to build plants inland or even in deserts in the future, and large-scale nuclear heating in the south in winter may become a dream come true.

Nuclear power is a national chess game. Local governments are enthusiastic about promoting the development of nuclear power.

Shanghai has no nuclear power plants, but after issuing an action plan for high-quality development of the nuclear power industry last year, it wrote support for the nuclear power industry into the government work report at the beginning of this year.

On the second day of the new year, Shanghai leaders personally led a team to conduct research and proposed to build a world-class nuclear power industry cluster in Shanghai.

Shandong, Fujian and other places also regard nuclear power as a new engine to promote economic transformation and green development.

For example, Shandong will start a batch of nuclear power projects and strive for another batch of nuclear power projects as key tasks in 2025. Once the project is approved, the province may add 5.5 million kilowatts of nuclear power installed capacity, and this construction scale has accounted for 8.5% of the total nuclear power capacity under construction in the world.

In the future, China’s nuclear power will continue its rapid development momentum. The “China Nuclear Energy Development Report 2021” predicts that my country’s nuclear power installed capacity will reach 120 million kilowatts in 2030. The American magazine “Foreign Policy” believes that by then, China’s nuclear power generation will surpass that of the United States and France, ranking first in the world.

Especially in the next two years, when a large number of projects under construction and application are in the critical period of sprint, China’s nuclear power construction has pressed the fast-forward button.