China taking the lead on nuclear power

When discussions turn to decarbonizing energy, the topics typically concern solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy. But nuclear energy doesn’t generate CO2 during normal operation, either. 

 “Since Yikpotey had been born, few new reactors had been built on either side of the Atlantic. Competition was fierce for the few opportunities left.

 

“So Yikpotey looked east. He applied to Tsinghua University, which boasts Beijing’s premiere nuclear research program. It had begun admitting foreigners and offering classes largely taught in English.

 

“Before going to Tsinghua, Yikpotey had a bad impression of China.

 

“When I got there, I learned it was not what I was thinking. They are peaceful and clean, and their technology is so advanced,” he told me by phone from Beijing one recent morning.

“In Ghana, we have an energy crisis,” he said. “In China, I never had to go without electricity.”

 

“China’s nuclear industry is on the leading edge, and the country has been building more reactors than any other.

 

“The leading reactor the legendary U.S. developer Westinghouse designed in the mid-2000s to be the workhorse of a new American nuclear renaissance? China built four before the U.S. could complete its first two, and went on to reverse-engineer its own, more powerful version.

 

“The smaller, mass-produced reactors the U.S. was banking on to bring down the cost and time it takes to construct new atomic power stations? China’s first so-called serialized small modular reactor was under development before U.S. regulators approved their first design.

 

“The cutting-edge reactor technology meant to revolutionize nuclear power by using coolants instead of water, so promising to tech companies like Amazon and Google? China hooked its first such reactor onto the grid last December, vaulting Beijing so far ahead of the West that analysts predicted it would take at least a decade to catch up.

 

“China is on a clear course to become the world’s first “electrostate.” 

China is beating the pants off America in production of electric cars, solar panels and wind turbines. The Trump Administration answer? Culture wars, massive research cuts, cuts to renewables and “drill baby drill” while rescinding America’s global climate promises and hacking away at international agreements.

 

Meanwhile, China is eating our lunch, and the rest of the world sees it.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/china-nuclear-power_n_67a29a03e4b0b9a29af3dd3b