Bloomberg News "China Likely to Become World's Largest Nuclear Power Country by Mid-2020s"
[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] Bloomberg reported on the 3rd that China, the world's largest carbon emitter, plans to build a substantial number of nuclear power plants to achieve carbon neutrality.
According to the report, the Chinese government plans to invest $440 billion (approximately 520 trillion KRW) over the next 15 years to build at least 150 nuclear power plants. This number exceeds the total number of nuclear power plants built by all countries worldwide except China over the past 35 years.
Bloomberg predicted that if China's plan is realized, China could surpass the United States to become the world's largest nuclear power producer as early as the mid-2020s. This is because, following the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, many countries have refrained from constructing new nuclear plants, while China is the only major country showing an active stance.
The World Nuclear Association (WNA) expects China's nuclear power generation costs to be lower than those of other countries due to a business structure where 70% of the reactor construction costs are financed through low-interest loans from state-owned banks.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have announced plans to reduce the proportion of fossil fuel use to below 20% by 2060. Ultimately, they aim to replace the current 2,990 coal-fired power plants with clean energy power plants by 2060. Bloomberg forecasts that nuclear power will rank third in China's energy consumption mix to achieve this goal.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
