China is the current king of new nuclear power construction. The US is attempting to launch a comeback, but its still unknown whether that will be successful.

China has 21 nuclear reactors under construction which will have a capacity for generating more than 21 gigawatts of electricity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That is two and a half times more nuclear reactors under construction than any other country.

I love that China is not planning to power all future demand with more coal and gas.

  • smoothbrain coldtakes@lemmy.ca
    3·
    1 year ago

    China is ahead because of their advanced manufacturing economy. They literally build every single reactor component in house and don’t have to really rely on any outside companies for basically anything.

    They have mostly North American designed reactors, ranging from CANDUs to their version of the Westinghouse AP-1000. Westinghouse basically went bankrupt trying to make the AP-1000 a viable reactor and when they started slipping, China came in and bought the schematics, modified them, and that’s their primary reactor design these days.

    If you look at all the reactors worldwide that are being built, the majority of them in Europe are massively behind schedule for various reasons that probably get ignored by the Chinese. For example, one of the reactors in France is multiple billions above budget and about a decade behind due to the lack of precision of the builders, forcing them to re-assess and re-build key structural components multiple times over.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.clubEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      It is important to keep in mind that, because they are copying the Westinghouse AP-1000 design several times, they can keep costs low as most construction issues have already been ironed out. They also get to build expertise by having a long program rather than just building a one off.

      • smoothbrain coldtakes@lemmy.ca
        2·
        1 year ago

        Well, all the reactors in Europe are supposed to be of a similar design – they had a big push to make the EPR reactors, which are a pressurized heavy water system, which is a bit old fashioned and requires a decent amount of passive safety to be built into the system. One of the first of those series to function was actually the one built in China which saw very few cost overruns and was generally finished within the original timeframe.

      • Instrument_Data@livellosegreto.it
        0·
        1 year ago

        In what universe filling the world of solar panels and huge huge huge batteries is cheaper or quicker or less polluting?
        To me it seems when nuclear power price is considered it is always the highest that can be found while for renewables weirdly it does not consider a lot of factors.

          • Instrument_Data@livellosegreto.it
            0·
            1 year ago

            It alone will generate 14% of what the entire nation needs for at least 60 years and probably much more time.
            How many times you have to replace the (very green?) batteries needed to store power for an entire nation in 60 years? And the solar plants and others?

            They started it, they completed it and now suddenly 14% of their energy is truly carbon free. For probably a century.
            And once you build one, building another one won’t take so much time.

            • Arcturus@kbin.social
              1·
              1 year ago

              In theory, when it’s working, yes it will. Only after being over a decade late and being everal times over budget. They’ll probably keep it going for as long as humanly possible, until the cost of maintaining it is no longer economically feasible. They’ll try to claw back as much of that investment as possible. But as we know with nuclear projects, they never will. It’s why China is betting big on renewables.

              You think nuclear powerplants don’t require parts replacements, maintenance, or shut down over the weather either? France, US, and Finland had to delay the opening of their latest plants because they already had to replace parts before they even started. This isn’t Finland’s first nuclear reactor. Their next one has been cancelled because of the war in Ukraine (Rosatom) The others are being throttled down for maintenance, and it won’t be long until this new one also requires it. As it is, they’re already understaffed.