Then why is China building 30 new reactors on top of the 60 they already have, if it's not competitive?

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/china-says-i...

The answer is usually more about how China can actually build things, not that nuclear isn't economically feasible.

The way China building new reactor is not typical.

Most of the countries builds _one_ type of reactor, or a group of similar type of reactor. This help reduce the cost of training and certification.

China, otoh, tries to _diversify_ their reactor type.

If you look closely on how China treat techs, they have been doing the same for all tech for past 15+ years. They are strategically growing their tech profile.

	▲	dalyons 12 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		They also, most importantly, don’t have to care if any of their reactors make economic sense. It is a single party state, and the incentive structure is very different.
	▲	marcosdumay 28 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They have a huge number of people that can specialize in many different things. But their government has actually explained it. They purposely diversify any tech that doesn't have a clear winner, so in the long term a winner appears and they can focus on it.

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dalyons 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And yet, even with their buildout the nuclear share of electricity is projected to decline y/y. Because renewables are cheaper.

And yes it does show china can build things, but it also highlights the different calculus of a single party state. They can force people & the state to buy uncompetitive nuclear power (under the banner of energy stability) and not worry about being voted out.

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mpweiher 3 hours ago | parent [-]

No it's not.

You actually have to build out intermittent renewables much faster than nuclear even for comparable generating capacity due to the much shorter lifetime of the equipment. See Little's Law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little%27s_law

China recently signed up to the COP28 pledge to triple nuclear generation. In the same time period, worldwide electricity generation is predicted to rise by 50-100%, so the nuclear share will grow by 50% - 100%.

	▲	dalyons 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Are you referring to the debunked idea that solar panels only last 20 years? Because yeah, bunk. https://www.ecoticias.com/en/goodbye-to-the-idea-that-solar-...

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nikanj 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

China can build ten reactors for the cost of Germany running the appeals, environmental studies and neighborhood consultations for one