China expected to fall short of 2020 nuclear capacity target

No new approvals have been granted for the past three years, amidst spiraling costs and delays for key projects.

A report by Reuters revealed that China is expected to fall short of its nuclear power generation capacity target of 53GW for 2020, according to a forecast from the China Electricity Council.

China is the world’s third-biggest nuclear power producer by capacity, with 45.9GW installed by end-2018 and 11 units still under construction, but its reactor building program has stalled since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

No new approvals have been granted for the past three years, amidst spiraling costs, delays for key projects and safety concerns about new technologies.

Environmental impact assessments for two new projects in southeast China were submitted to regulators in February, however, paving the way for a resumption of its atomic energy program.

Council vice chairman Wei Shaofeng said capacity should reach 137GW by 2030 if China raised the pace of nuclear construction to six to eight reactors a year from 2021 to 2030, and could hit 200GW by 2035.

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