During 2008-2010， except for 6 imported reactors, all built nuclear reactors have been connected to grid. Among the 6 reactors, 4 are AP1000 by Toshiba-Westinghouse, while another 2 are EPR by AREVA. The Authorities have been disappointed with the suppliers of these nuclear power plants and regrets the costly choice for AP1000 and EPR
Before the first AP1000 being fully tested and verified in its safety and reliability performance, China will probably not construct the additional AP1000 project any longer (including the AP1000-based indigenously-developed CAP1400).
In addition, the Chinese Authorities also has no plan to build any EPR in mainland. Actually, neither of China’s two Nuclear Giants-CGN and CNNC want to invest in new EPR. Instead, M-310-based medium reactors—also known as ACP1000 and ACPR1000 were preferred by the two nuclear groups.
China is facing up with a totally different challenge compared with the other counterparts overseas, that is, degrading the nuclear cost to the level of the other kind of energy, especially the renewal energy resource. Without doing this, China will have heavier burden to build additional nuclear power plants and its nuclear will be too difficult to grow in its energy map. Furthermore, it will directly affect its nuclear “going out” strategy. The Authorities indicated that China’s nuclear export strategy is deeply rooted to its politic concern—greatly enhance its global influence. If the world nuclear market cannot get better with time, it is more likely that China will turn to support the other energy mix which has low economic risk but is beneficial to upgrade China’s international position.
