Abstract
With real economic growth rate of over 9% per year, energy consumption is increasing rapidly too. Currently, China has become a net energy importer and the electric power shortage has become the “Bottleneck” in some coastal areas. China faces a great challenge to meet its increasing energy demand. Nuclear, as an emission-free energy source has been paid high attention by Chinese government.
After Fukushima accident, nuclear safety has emerged as a hot issue again with discussions of replacing nuclear power with coal or LNG to address the safety issues. Considering energy security and the CO2 emission problems the potential role of nuclear power in terms of the future CO2 emission reduction and energy security has been examined.
The aim of this paper is to examine nuclear energy program in conjunction with the past, present and the likely future developments of Chinese nuclear energy. Some driving factors including oil supply security, environment pressure and uneven distribution of energy are being discussed. Some additional questions such as the lack of uranium resource, disposal of nuclear waste, and reactor safety issues are also being discussed. It is worth noting that the current total operable nuclear capacity of the three countries accounts for 20% of the world total, and the additional reactors under construction and planned will account for almost 32%, it would be necessary to discuss the future cooperation in nuclear sector among Northeast Asian countries, especially after Fukushima accident which had affected not only Japan but also other Asian countries with different levels. In the end, some suggestions and recommendations have been proposed for future nuclear power development in China.