China will accelerate advanced nuclear energy technological development as part of its national strategy for future industries, a political advisor said while discussing efforts to foster emerging industries stated in the government work report submitted Wednesday to the ongoing third session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation.
Lu Tiezhong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and also chairman of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), one of the country's largest nuclear power operators, said that China's nuclear energy development will follow a "three-step" roadmap to accelerate the implementation of advanced nuclear technologies.
China's three-step" nuclear energy roadmap refers to the country's long-term nuclear development plan, consisting of three phases: thermal reactors, fast reactors, and fusion reactors.
The representative of the thermal reactor phase is the Hualong-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Zhangzhou City, east China's Fujian Province. As of now, there are 33 Hualong-1 power units either in operation or under construction worldwide, making it the most widely deployed Generation III nuclear reactor design globally.
"Currently, there are five Hualong-1 power units in operation domestically and two overseas. Additionally, 26 units are under construction. Overall, the deployment of Hualong-1 power units is progressing well," said Lu.
Apart from Hualong-1 power units, China is also witnessing an accelerated development of fast reactors and fusion reactors, Lu said.
A fusion reactor is an energy device that simulates the nuclear fusion reactions occurring inside the Sun, often referred to as an "artificial Sun". In contrast, a fast reactor uses fast neutrons to directly bombard uranium-238, triggering a fission chain reaction. It is classified as a Generation IV nuclear technology.
"The biggest advantage of fast reactors is their ability to increase uranium resource utilization efficiency by 60 times. Theoretically, with global uranium resources, nuclear power plants worldwide could operate for over 10,000 years. The third step is controlled nuclear fusion, which is being developed as a future energy industry. Research and development in controlled nuclear fusion are being actively advanced, and in fact, all three steps of China's nuclear energy strategy are progressing simultaneously," said Lu.
China to accelerate development of advanced nuclear energy technologies: CPPCC member
