China’s rapid nuclear expansion threatens US dominance in this sector

China’s uncontrolled nuclear expansion has its competitors biting their nails. As nuclear power regains popularity around the world as a promising source of baseload electricity in a decarbonized future, it is also becoming a larger geopolitical battleground. As countries seek to maintain a strategic position in a rapidly changing energy landscape, nuclear energy is suddenly becoming a powerhouse for the world’s superpowers. And China seems to be winning this race.

Although the United States has been the world’s largest producer of nuclear power for decades, the U.S. market has slowed significantly in recent years at the same time as Beijing has doubled its pace of deployment, adding as much as 34 gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity over the past decade. As a result, China will overtake the United States (and France) to become the world’s largest producer of nuclear energy within the next decade.

China currently has 55 operating nuclear reactors compared to 94 in the United States, but 23 new reactors are already under construction and more are on the way. In fact, it took China just 10 years to add the same nuclear capacity that the United States took four decades to add.

Beijing is able to approve new nuclear reactors much faster than the United States, at a breakneck pace of ten new plants being approved per year. Chinese power plants are also much cheaper to build, including: thanks to preferential loans on particularly favorable terms granted by state banks. Although the United States has made recent efforts to revitalize its stalled nuclear energy sector, its newest plant is so behind schedule and over budget that nuclear advocates fear it could completely thwart the country’s nuclear ambitions.

While China’s surge in nuclear power is great news for the country’s decarbonization potential – and therefore great news for the entire world’s ability to meet climate goals by mid-century – China’s fast and furious approach has put many world leaders on edge. U.S. policymakers have expressed concerns that China’s rapidly growing nuclear power capabilities could allow it to export nuclear reactors on a large scale, ultimately threatening U.S. foreign relations with importing countries. This would not be a new trend, but a continuation of China’s already massive expansion of energy influence in emerging markets.

Meanwhile, China’s plans to place floating nuclear power plants in the South China Sea have raised tensions with its Southeast Asian neighbors. China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines have overlapping claims to parts of the sea, which China claims almost all of itself despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that rejected Beijing’s claim as “without legal basis.” Contemptuous of this ruling, China continues to “reclaim” land to build artificial islands in the sea, and currently plans to send about 20 floating nuclear power plants to some of these islands.

Experts have widely condemned the plans, warning that “China’s planned deployment of floating nuclear reactors in the disputed South China Sea could risk increasing tensions with other claimants and undermining regional security.” Adding to these tensions, there is a legitimate fear that China will use these plants to power military operations in the conflicted region, which would be a violation of international law.

Indeed, China’s excessive nuclear ambitions cannot be limited either by its own borders or even by land borders. Earlier this year, Moscow and Beijing announced joint plans to place a nuclear reactor on the moon within the next decade. Russian state media even claim that work on the plant is already underway, and Russia and China are currently working on experimental and research facilities as part of this project.

Author: Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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