| ▲ | ViewTrick1002 3 days ago | |
China has been scaling back and delaying their nuclear program in favor of renewables since Fukushima. At saturation, given current nuclear build out based on actual construction starts and China’s grid size, China will end up with 2-3% nuclear power in the grid mix. Enough to sustain a civilian industry to complement any military ambitions, but it does not move the needle. In terms of electricity China is all in on renewables and storage with a backstop of locally sourced firming coal. | ||
| ▲ | mpweiher 3 days ago | parent [-] | |
> China has been scaling back and delaying their nuclear program in favor of renewables since Fukushima. Not "has". "Had". The whole world held their breath after Fukushima. Now that everybody knows that nothing really consequential happened apart from state overreaction, Japan, China and the rest of the world are no longer holding their breath. China has been approving 10 or more nuclear power plants per year the last couple of years. Given the lifetime of 80 years of modern nuclear reactors and Little's Law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little%27s_law) that implies an expected fleet size of 800 reactors. At 1.2 - 1.4GW per reactors, that would be slightly above 1 TW of generating capacity, which is enough for 90% of current Chinese electricity production. | ||