On 14 July in Beijing, Vice-Minister of Energy Andrzej Piotrowski and his Chinese counterpart Li Fanrong signed a Polish-Chinese agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Currently China uses 36 nuclear reactors and is building another 20. The first nuclear block in China was opened in 1991 and the latest one in January this year. Only three reactors were put into service in the 1990s. The other 33 were opened after 2000. By 2021 the government in Beijing wants to triple the capacity of nuclear power plants to 58 GWe and reach 150 GWe of installed capacity by 2030.
New nuclear reactors in China are build to respond to the growing demand for electricity and to meet environmental protection standards. Improved energy security and rational energy price necessary for the country’s dynamic growth play an equally important factor.
China adopted the policy of a closed fuel cycle and consequently uses western technologies to design their own reactors (Hualong One is an example of an integrated Chinese reactor).
In the future China wants to become a world supplier of nuclear power. Currently Chinese companies are engaged in constructing nuclear power plants in Pakistan. China also signed deals on implementing nuclear projects in Argentina, Romania and Great Britain.
