China expected to miss target for 2020 nuclear capacity
- It is forecast to reach 53 gigawatts next year – below targeted 58GW
- No new approvals for reactors have been granted in past three years amid spiralling costs, project delays and safety concerns
China will fall short of its nuclear power generation capacity target for 2020, according to a forecast from the China Electricity Council on Tuesday.
Total nuclear capacity is expected to reach 53 gigawatts next year, below a target of 58GW, council vice-chairman Wei Shaofeng told the China Nuclear Energy Sustainable Development Forum in Beijing.
China is the world’s third-biggest nuclear power producer by capacity, with 45.9GW installed by the end of 2018 and 11 units still under construction, but its reactor-building programme has stalled since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
No new approvals have been granted for the past three years, amid spiralling 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 last month, however, paving the way for a resumption of its atomic energy programme.
Wei 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.