High-level statements shift from “timely launch” to “prompt launch”

Since the beginning of this year, eight high-level statements supporting nuclear power construction have pushed China's nuclear power train onto the fast track. Judging from the statements of high-level government officials, the development of nuclear power has shifted from “timely launch” at the beginning of the year to “prompt launch” now, and nuclear power construction is accelerating again.

Although inland nuclear power was not included in the list of nuclear power restarts during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, the National Energy Administration's statement at the beginning of the year on “doing a good job in protecting inland nuclear power plant sites” has led many domestic provinces to begin preliminary deployments.

On July 10, China General Nuclear Power Group signed an investment intention agreement with Guizhou Province to spend 38 billion yuan on two nuclear power plant projects. “This is a typical inland nuclear power project, and currently there should be no national approval document.” On July 22, Wang Yinan, a researcher at the Resource and Environmental Policy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Times.

Like the above projects, some inland nuclear power projects are receiving orders one after another even before they have obtained approval documents, and nuclear power construction is ready to start.

Multiple regions compete for nuclear power projects

To date, although the energy authorities have not put the restart of inland nuclear power on the agenda, this has not hindered the enthusiasm of local governments and nuclear power enterprises in laying out inland nuclear power projects.

At present, Guizhou Province is at the forefront.

At the “Guizhou Province Clean Energy Development Symposium” on July 10, Guizhou Province signed two inland nuclear power projects with CGN totaling 38 billion yuan in investment. CGN's investment intention is to invest 35 billion yuan during the period from 2014 to 2020 to build the Tongren Nuclear Power Plant project, and to invest 3 billion yuan to build the Guizhou Small Modular Reactor Nuclear Power Plant project.

In addition to Guizhou, news about inland nuclear power in Jiangxi, Hunan, Liaoning and other places was reported earlier.

At the Fourth China Nuclear Energy Sustainable Development Forum in May this year, Wang Liangfang, director of the Hunan Provincial Energy Bureau, said in his report that nuclear power will become the main force in Hunan's power supply. “Hunan strives to timely launch nuclear power projects during the ‘13th Five-Year Plan’.” Wang Liangfang said.

Also in May, Jiangxi Province issued the “Jiangxi Province Medium- and Long-Term Power Development Plan”, stating that it strives to put one nuclear power unit into operation by 2020. Previously, Jiangxi Province required close attention to national inland nuclear power policies and to follow up and promote the Pengze nuclear power project. The economically developed Zhejiang Province is also not to be outdone, saying that the nuclear power projects involved in this year's investment total three.

According to the reporter's statistics, provinces planning to develop inland nuclear power plants also include: inland areas of Guangdong, Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan, Jilin and Heilongjiang, etc.

In addition to competing for inland nuclear power projects, some Phase II nuclear power projects are also ready to go. Such as the Hongyanhe Phase II nuclear power project, Fuqing Units 5 and 6, Xudabao Phase I, Lufeng Phase I, Haiyang Phase II, Sanmen Phase II, etc.

In the past three years, from suspension to thawing and restart, and then to the commencement of new projects, China's nuclear power has entered an acceleration period.

Dual benefits

“Like other major projects, nuclear power plants involve huge investments.” Lin Boqiang, director of the China Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, said in an interview with the reporter that against the backdrop of intensifying local debt and a sluggish real estate market, only major projects can have an immediate effect in driving the local economy, so nuclear power projects have become a hot favorite competed for by various places.

The Fuqing nuclear power project is a typical example.

“Under the situation of responding to the global financial crisis in 2008, the commencement of the Fuqing nuclear power project had important practical significance for expanding domestic demand and driving economic growth. In terms of jobs alone, it can provide more than 10,000 positions.” Local officials said. It is reported that the project was a key project implemented under the 4 trillion yuan plan in 2008, with 6 nuclear power units, implemented under a single plan with continuous construction, and a total investment of nearly 100 billion yuan.

In fact, China's nuclear power market has good expectations. Data reviewed by the reporter shows that to date, China's nuclear power installed capacity accounts for only 2% of total power generation installed capacity, while the world average is 16%-18%, so there is considerable room for improvement in nuclear power in the future. After the State Council meeting on October 24, 2012, another 5 units were started, with an installed capacity of about 4 million kilowatts.

Affected by this, orders for nuclear power equipment are also pouring in.

According to reports, a certain cable company recently won the bid for CGN Engineering Co., Ltd.'s “Yangjiang and Hongyanhe Units 5-6 LOT73 Whole Plant Non-K1 Power Cable Procurement” project, with a contract amount of 50.2492 million yuan. And this is only one of many orders.

Driven by the launch of domestic nuclear power projects and exports to overseas markets, demand for nuclear power will undoubtedly grow substantially. Some institutions predict that the number of new projects in 2014 is expected to increase by 100%-200% compared with 2013, and equipment investment demand will be nearly 70 billion yuan. According to the plan of 80 million kilowatts by 2020, the total demand for nuclear power equipment investment is expected to approach 480 billion yuan.

“The construction of inland nuclear power projects will usher in new dawn.” Tan Jiansheng, vice general manager of CGN, said when signing the nuclear power investment agreement with Guizhou. “Nuclear power is now the only realistic, mature clean alternative energy source that can be developed on a large scale.” An expert from the Guizhou Academy of Social Sciences told the reporter that the dual benefits of “energy + economy” are boosting local hopes for a restart.

The reporter noted that many places mentioned the need to launch a batch of major projects when deploying this year's economic work, and nuclear power is often among them. Precisely because of this, competition among various places for nuclear power projects is quite fierce.

Controversy over inland nuclear power remains

Controversy over launching inland nuclear power projects has always been intense.

The reporter noted that the signal from the government level to steadily launch nuclear power construction has not completely killed inland nuclear power projects——the National Energy Administration's 2014 energy work guidance requires “doing a good job in protecting inland nuclear power plant sites, and continuing to develop inland nuclear power next.”

Related to this, a whirlwind of inland nuclear power site selection has also swept across various places, including Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing and other inland provinces and cities, some of which have signed investment intention agreements. “Whether it is the inland wind or the southeast wind, what is blowing is the nuclear power wind.” On the 22nd, a local official in Sichuan confirmed to the reporter that local authorities require investment promotion to advance into the energy field, with priority given to nuclear power-related supporting projects.

Since the suspension of nuclear power project approvals after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011, only whether inland nuclear power should be launched remains controversial.

Regarding the high risks of inland nuclear power, Wang Yinan wrote in an article not long ago that whether from the perspectives of safety, cleanliness or economy, nuclear power should not be a strategic choice for China's energy structure transformation, and even less should China take huge risks to develop inland nuclear power that is fundamentally unsuitable for China's national conditions. Once this article was published, controversy continued.

“The biggest obstacle to nuclear power development lies in technical difficulties such as nuclear accident handling and nuclear waste disposal.” Wang Yinan told the reporter that no country has yet found a way to deal with nuclear waste. However, Pan Ziqiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in radiation protection and environmental protection, has said many times that inland nuclear power plants are safe.

Local governments and nuclear power enterprises interviewed by the reporter clearly expressed the hope that inland nuclear power would start construction as soon as possible. “If the project cannot start for a long time, the huge early investment will be wasted.” On July 22, a woman from China Nuclear North Nuclear Fuel Company said. On the same day, an employee of Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. also told the reporter that if inland nuclear power does not start, the losses to enterprises will be even more serious. For example, for the suspended Pengze nuclear power project, the annual financial cost is more than 100 million yuan.

Local governments also strongly support the launch of inland nuclear power. During the two sessions this year, the Hunan delegation, in the name of the entire delegation, put forward a proposal to launch inland nuclear power projects as soon as possible, but it was not adopted. “Inland nuclear power will definitely be developed; it depends on the overall arrangement at the national level.” Lin Boqiang said.