China's nuclear capacity to increase sevenfold

China Nuclear Power Expansion advances the 2020 15% non-fossil goal, scaling capacity to 75 GW with hydropower, wind, solar, and biomass, delivering low-cost, stable baseload power at 7,900 hours utilization and uranium supply.

Nuclear power will play an important role in China's efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

A senior officer from the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission said, "In order to achieve the objective of increasing the proportion of non-fossil energy to 15 in 2020, including plans to increase nuclear power's share in the mix, nuclear power, hydropower and other non-fossil energies such as wind power, solar energy and biomass energy will be the three key categories. Nuclear power will contribute between 4 and 6."

Based on a preliminary calculation, to achieve the objective of increasing the proportion of non-fossil energy to 15 in 2020, the installed capacity of nuclear power will need to be at least 75 gigawatts GW, with plans to expand to over 70 GW by 2020 according to reports. China's current installed nuclear power capacity is about 9 GW, therefore the installed capacity of nuclear power is expected to increase by 700 to 800 in the next 10 years.

Because of the urgent need for energy conservation and emissions reduction in China, nuclear power will be an important choice for clean energy, as China kicks nuclear builds into high gear to meet targets. Nuclear power also provides a high utilization rate about 7,900 hours per year and is a very stable supply of power. Meanwhile, through enhanced procurement of uranium mining resources from overseas markets, the fuel supply required for the huge installed capacity in nuclear power could be secured gradually.

Insiders believe that, as a highly efficient and clean form of energy, the strategic position of nuclear power will be further enhanced under the current situation in China, with some projections that it could reach 22% of consumption by 2050 under long-term scenarios.

Moreover, the cost of nuclear power is not only lower than other types of energy in unit price, but also is more stable, which is helpful in attracting downstream investments as authorities moved to double the original 2020 nuclear estimate to meet demand. Presently, the cost of electricity generated from nuclear power in China is less than $0.06 per kilowatt-hour.

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