China to increase its nuclear generating capacity

China has revised its energy requirement needs and is planning to nearly double its nuclear generating capacity to meet the growing demand for power and reduce its dependence on electricity produced from fossil fuels and hydro power, thereby opting for a cleaner source of energy.

China has 11 civilian nuclear reactors in operation, with a total capacity of 8.6 gigawatts (GWe), supplying more than 1 per cent of the country's energy needs, of which about three quarters is used by the country's industrial sector.

The Chinese government had planned to increase nuclear generating capacity to 40 GWe by 2020 adding 2 GWe per year. In May 2007 the National Development and Reform Commission announced that its target for nuclear generation capacity in 2030 was 60 GWe.

The newly-formed State Energy Bureau (SEB) said in March 2008 that at least 5 per cent of electricity in China should be generated from nuclear power by 2020, which meant that the nuclear generation capacity should be 50 GWe.

In June 2008 the Chinese again revised its nuclear capacity needs and China Electrical Council projected that the nuclear capacity should be increased to 60 GWe by 2020.

Now the National Energy Administration (NEA) said that it has revised the country's nuclear capacity need and wants to aim at generating 70 GWe by 2020 and the revision bill is awaiting approval from the State Council.

Currently, seven nuclear plants are under construction in China and the authorities want to start building another eight more in the next three years and some of them will be the most advanced nuclear reactors in the world.

This year alone, the Chinese authorities want to start construction nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 8.4 GWe.

Chinese state broadcaster, China Central Television said that the country will also invest $84.8 billion in the power industry this year and develop renewable energies such as wind and solar power, encourage mergers and acquisitions of the outdated coal-fired power plants and improve the energy structure in the country.

About 80 per cent of China's electricity is produced from fossil fuels and hydro power and coal being the main energy source, it has always been a logistic problem for China to haul the coal from its reserves in the north or north-west to the economically developed but power starved region of the southern coastal belt.

Nearly half of China's rail capacity is used in transporting coal and often there are problems in transportation as experienced last year, when heavy snowstorms had damaged most of the country's railway system thereby forcing authorities to shut its coal fired plants leading to power blackouts.

Nuclear power thus becomes vital to China's economic, not only because of its reliance on fossil fuel, but also to eliminate the high pollution caused by its reliance on it.

The old coal-fired plants, which generate electricity, accounts for much of the country's air pollution with China becoming the second-largest polluter in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions after the US.

The IEA had forecasted in 2004 that China's global emissions, mainly from the power sector, would increase from 14 per cent in 2002 to 19 per cent in 2030, which according to critics, is a conservative figure.

China has relied on France, Canada and Russia for its nuclear technology and domestic development has taken place mainly with the help from France, and China has signed deals with Areva of France and Westinghouse Electric Co of the US to build the third generation nuclear reactors.

China will fall far short in its need in fuel for its existing, under construction nuclear reactors and its undeclared military reactors, as its known uranium resources, are 70,000 tU and of low grade.

The heap leach operations at several mines in Xinjiang region, supplies about half of its current uranium needs and Chinarelies heavily on Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia and now Australia for its uranium requirements.