China to maintain nuclear power
goal By Olivia Chung
HONG KONG - Beijing's decision following
the earthquake and tsunami damage to nuclear power
plants in Japan this month to suspend approvals
for its own new nuclear plants and to conduct a
nationwide review of existing facilities and those
under construction does not indicate a change is
likely in China's atomic energy strategy, experts
and senior government officials say.
The
State Council, or cabinet, announced on March 16
that it would suspend approvals for new nuclear
power stations and conduct comprehensive safety
checks of all nuclear projects, including those
under construction. About 34 reactors are already
approved by the central
government and 26 are being built.
The
cabinet's decision was aimed at easing mounting
public concern over nuclear safety in the wake of
Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis at Fukushima
Dai'ichi Power Plant following a 9.0 magnitude
earthquake and a tsunami.
At the end of
the annual National People's Congress meeting on
March 14, Beijing's nuclear strategy plan was
approved in the 12th five-year plan (2011-2015),
after which a spokesman of the China National
Nuclear Corp (CNNC) said the strategy timetable
from 2011 to 2015 would be a period of "active"
expansion, to be followed by a "fast" development
stage between 2016 and 2020.
China's first
nuclear power reactor went into operation in the
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant in east China's
Zhejiang province in late 1991. There are now 13
reactors in operation in Zhejiang, and south
China's Guangdong provinces, with a total
installed nuclear capacity of 10.8 gigawatts.
According to China's Five-Year Plan
(2011-2015), China plans to increase installed
nuclear capacity from 10.8 gigawatts at the end of
2010, accounting for less than 2% of the country's
electricity production, to 40 gigawatts in 2015.
By 2020, China aims to generate 290
gigawatts from non-fossil fuel sources, including
nuclear, hydro and wind power, accounting for 15%
of the nation's electricity production. Of that,
70 gigawatts will be nuclear power, accounting for
about 5% of the mainland's electricity production,
and 150 gigawatts will come from wind power, which
reached about 40 gigawatts at the end of 2010.
Four new nuclear power plants will go into
operation in Guangdong province in 2015 while
Jiangxi province and inland provinces such as
Hunan and Hubei also have plans for nuclear
projects.
Despite the State Council's
decision, experts and senior government officials
did not expect the country to slow the pace of
nuclear development.
Professor Gu
Zhongmao, a scientific adviser at the
Beijing-based China Institute of Atomic Energy,
told Asia Times Online by phone that Japan's
nuclear leak was a reminder for greater awareness
of the safety of nuclear power plants and that's
why China is intensify safety checks on reactors
in operation and under construction now.
"But I don't think the radiation leak in
Japan will affect China's development strategy for
nuclear power, as part of the nation's energy
mix," said Gu.
To meet growing demand for
power while seeking to cut carbon emissions caused
by the use of fossil fuels, China was aiming to
boosting the development of clean energy sources,
including nuclear, solar, hydro and wind energy,
said Gu.
"And nuclear power is a more cost
effective and clean energy with its advances," Gu
said.
Of the 13 existing nuclear power
reactors, 11 are of an enhanced Generation 2
pressurized water reactor (PWR) design, which is
different from the damaged Japanese boiling water
reactors (BWR). The PWR, with a design life of 60
years, uses three-water-loop systems rather than
the single one used in the Japanese reactors. The
extra loops, which do not contain any radioactive
substances, can reduce inside pressure by leaking
out steam, decreasing the possibility of a burst
of the containment vessel.
The remaining
two pressurized water reactors use the CANDU
technology designed and developed by Atomic Energy
of Canada Limited (AECL), Gu said.
AECL
earlier said it is looking at two alternative
nuclear fuels - recovered uranium and thorium. The
company in March last year proved the feasibility
of using recovered uranium in the Third Qinshan
Nuclear Power Plant of Zhejiang Province, which
has had two CANDU 6 reactors in operation since
2003.
A chief benefit of a thorium nuclear
reactor is that it offers no possibility of a
meltdown. It also generates power inexpensively,
does not produce weapons-grade by-products, and
will burn up existing high-level waste as well as
nuclear weapon stockpiles.
Ambrose
Evans-Pritchard, writing in the Daily Telegraph in
the UK, said that US President Barack Obama could
by focusing on thorium power development put an
end to US dependence on fossil fuels "within three
to five years". He argues that China is leading
the way with its own "dash for thorium", announced
this month.
Thorium is three to four times
more abundant than uranium and is widely
distributed in many countries as an easily
exploitable resource. China has nearly 300,000
tonnes of thorium reserves, which is enough for
the nation to use for 300 years, according to
experts cited by China Daily.
Some of the
Chinese reactors under construction are also
expected to employ a new technology dubbed the
AP1000 system, Gu said.
Developed by
United States-based Westinghouse uses a passive
core cooling system that doesn't require
electricity as an essential driver. The AP1000's
electrical system required for initiating the
passive systems doesn't rely on external or diesel
power, and the valves used on the reactor don't
rely on hydraulic or compressed air systems. The
passive system, when activated, is designed to
remove heat for 72 hours, according to China
Daily. China is also developing "a fast
reactor" designed to be more fuel-efficient and
safer than previous generations by use sodium as a
coolant instead of water, Gu said.
A
small-scale pilot fast reactor - the mainland's
first - came on stream in a Beijing suburb last
year, but this type of reactor will not become
commercially viable for a further 30 years, given
the insufficient manpower and resources support,
he said.
"To ensure the safety of nuclear
power plants, China is reassessing the safety of
those under construction or winning approval,
including the geographical stability of their
sites, their anti-earthquake features and their
proximity to the sea for a ready supply of water
... Once the safety issues are reassured, China
must go on with its development plan of nuclear
power plants to meet the demand for energy and its
commitment to cut carbon emissions," he said.
Regarding the difficulties in developing
its nuclear power strategy, Gu said a lack of
well-trained experts is the main problem.
In the 12th Five-Year Plan period
(2011-2015), China targets annual gross domestic
product (GDP) growth of 7%, down from the 7.5%
goal in the previous five years - a target which
was always well exceeded.
China's energy
needs will increase 75% by 2035, the Paris-based
International Energy Agency said in its World
Energy Outlook in November.
The nation's
demand for coal, which produces carbon a lot when
burned, is expected to total 2.9 billion tons this
year, 3.5 billion tons in 2015 and 3.8 billion
tons in 2030, according to the China National Coal
Association, though the IEA and US Energy
Information Administration estimate China's 2025
coal consumption at 4.7 billion and 4.6 billion
tons, respectively.
China aims to cut
carbon emissions by 17% for each unit of GDP by
2015 and up to 45% for each unit of GDP by 2020
"These targets are significant because
they are domestically binding, meaning that they
carry political weight and that actions are
necessary in the 12th Five-Year Plan if China has
any chance of meeting these targets by 2020,"
Damien Ma, an analyst with the New York-based
Eurasia Group, a political risk research and
consulting firm, said on Chinausfocus.com.
Chai Guohan, chief engineer at the
environment ministry's Nuclear and Radiation
Safety Center, which oversees the country's
nuclear safety, told Xinhua news agency that
China's nuclear projects were far from seismic
fault lines.
The nation's nuclear projects
"have greater anti-earthquake and flooding
capacity than the Fukushima power plant ... China
is on a huge mainland facing a lower risk of
tsunami ... we should not give up the development
strategy for nuclear power," he said.
However, China is prone to earthquakes and
areas are regularly hit floods and drought.
Following Japan's nuclear leak, Greenpeace
activists in Hong Kong called on the government to
opt for more renewable energy sources due to its
proximity to the Daya Bay station in Guangdong,
which is about 45 kilometers from the special
economic zone Shenzhen and about 50 kilometers
from Hong Kong.
Operating since 1994, the
Daya Bay station generates 30 billion kilowatts of
electricity each year, 70% of which is transmitted
to Hong Kong with the remaining 30% supplied to
the China Southern Power Grid.
The
Greenpeace call following a public outcry at the
delay in reporting an incident involving a
suspected crack in a fuel rod that caused a slight
increase in radioactivity in the cooling water at
its unit two reactor last May. In October last
year, a flaw was observed during an inspection at
a pipe section of an auxiliary cooling system in
the containment building to be used during an
outage. Workers were exposed to radioactivity
equal to two chest X-rays.
A spokesperson
of Hong Kong-based CLP, which has a 25% stake in
the Daya Bay nuclear plant, told Asia Times Online
that the company is reviewing its new investment
in the Yangjiang nuclear project in Guangdong.
CLP signed a letter of cooperation
agreement with state-owned China Guangdong Nuclear
Power Holding Co last July to take a 17% stake in
the Yangjiang plant, which will cost 70 billion
yuan (US$10.6 billion) to build and is due to
start producing electricity in 2013.
The
spokesman also said that with the country's
cabinet decision on reviewing nuclear projects,
the Yangjiang nuclear project was also subject to
review by the Chinese government.
China
Guangdong Nuclear Power, which owns and operates
the Daya Bay plant, and China National Nuclear
Corp, the country's largest atomic plant operator,
said they have monitored and started safety checks
on their nuclear stations after the Japan's
nuclear leak.
Li Xiaolin, chairwoman of
Hong Kong-listed China Power International
Development, an operator of coal-fired and large
hydro-power plants, said on March 16 that the
nuclear power projects of the company's parent
China Power Investment Corp are under review by
the Chinese government and China Power Investment.
"Therefore the company's exposure on
nuclear power is unlikely in the short term," Li
said at the press conference, dismissing China
Power Investment's earlier idea to inject nuclear
assets into the Hong Kong-listed unit.
Olivia Chung is a senior Asia
Times Online reporter.
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2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights
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