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China had ambitious plans for nuclear and didn't follow through: https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1162772916125126656 https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status

China had ambitious plans for nuclear and didn't follow through: https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1162772916125126656 https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1162772916125126656

wahern 6y ago
That assessment is a little out of date. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_reactors#China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_reactors#China They had several construction starts in 2015 (some are coming online now), and after a 3 year hiatus began several more in 2019. BTW, I'm not just trusting that Wikipedia table. I've confirmed construction and [near] completion of some of those listed (but haven't bothered with all, my doubts assuaged). China's nuclear plans were delayed and reassessed. But their commitment to and follow through on their [apparently] revised plan is still quite ambitious. Predictions of the death of nuclear in China were rather premature, albeit understandable considering the lack of transparency, especially in the Western world given the language barrier.
- legulere 6y ago
  If you have sources, then why not correct Wikipedia?
  - wahern 6y ago
    Because the table wasn't wrong as far as I could tell. And on some of the plant-specific articles there were newer citations. But, point taken--it would have been useful to have added more recent citations to that table.
- natmaka 6y ago
  In 2009 their intention was to "raise the percentage of China's electricity produced by nuclear power to 6% by 2020" In 2019 nuclear produced 4.9% of the gridpower. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_China Not very "ambitious" in my book, especially given their to solar and wind (wind power generation capacity added in the sole year 2016 produced 4%). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_China Solar is even more dynamic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China The language barrier remains low here because China builds with non-Chinese partners (French "Électricité de France" for the EPR, Russian "Atomstroyexport" for the VVER) or at the very least builds local extensions to existing architectures which may be exported and therefore are closely followed by foreigners (Brookfield Business Partners, as the new owner of Westinghouse, and the "CAP" potential series). Even the new (and not yet active) local model (Hualong) is potentially exportable and therefore well documented. Moreover all this stuff is submitted to IAEA inspections, which are well-documented and expose it to international experts.

China had ambitious plans for nuclear and didn't follow through: https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1162772916125126656 https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1162772916125126656

wahern 6y ago

That assessment is a little out of date. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_reactors#China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_reactors#China They had several construction starts in 2015 (some are coming online now), and after a 3 year hiatus began several more in 2019. BTW, I'm not just trusting that Wikipedia table. I've confirmed construction and [near] completion of some of those listed (but haven't bothered with all, my doubts assuaged). China's nuclear plans were delayed and reassessed. But their commitment to and follow through on their [apparently] revised plan is still quite ambitious. Predictions of the death of nuclear in China were rather premature, albeit understandable considering the lack of transparency, especially in the Western world given the language barrier.

legulere 6y ago
If you have sources, then why not correct Wikipedia?
- wahern 6y ago
  Because the table wasn't wrong as far as I could tell. And on some of the plant-specific articles there were newer citations. But, point taken--it would have been useful to have added more recent citations to that table.
natmaka 6y ago
In 2009 their intention was to "raise the percentage of China's electricity produced by nuclear power to 6% by 2020" In 2019 nuclear produced 4.9% of the gridpower. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_China Not very "ambitious" in my book, especially given their to solar and wind (wind power generation capacity added in the sole year 2016 produced 4%). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_China Solar is even more dynamic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China The language barrier remains low here because China builds with non-Chinese partners (French "Électricité de France" for the EPR, Russian "Atomstroyexport" for the VVER) or at the very least builds local extensions to existing architectures which may be exported and therefore are closely followed by foreigners (Brookfield Business Partners, as the new owner of Westinghouse, and the "CAP" potential series). Even the new (and not yet active) local model (Hualong) is potentially exportable and therefore well documented. Moreover all this stuff is submitted to IAEA inspections, which are well-documented and expose it to international experts.