The United States is 10 to 15 years behind China in deploying next-generation reactors, the research institute says.
The United States is falling far behind China in nuclear energy, and the world's largest economy is 10 to 15 years behind the Asian giant in deploying next-generation reactors, according to a report.
China has 27 nuclear reactors under development, and the average reactor takes seven years to come online, much faster than most other countries, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said in a report released Sunday.
Between 2008 and 2023, China's share of nuclear patents rose from 1.3 percent to 13.4 percent and the country now leads the number of nuclear fusion patent applications, the Washington-based research institute said.
Beijing's rapid rise in this field is due to a “coherent national strategy” to develop nuclear energy, which includes low-interest financing, feed-in tariffs and simplified regulatory approval, the institute said.
“China's government has placed considerable priority on building domestic nuclear reactors as part of Beijing's broader energy strategy,” the report said.
“Looking ahead, it seems likely that China will use this established domestic capacity as a basis for competitive reactor exports, in the same way that its 'dual circulation' strategy has achieved in other areas, such as electric vehicles and batteries.” .
According to the institute, a common narrative that China is “a copier” and the United States an “innovator” has fostered an indifferent attitude toward industrial policy.
“First, this assumption is flawed because innovators may lose leadership to copiers with lower cost structures, as we have seen in many American industries, including consumer electronics, semiconductors, solar panels, telecommunications, machine tools and, as noted here, quite possibly, nuclear energy. Second, it is not clear that China is a slow copyer and always destined to be a follower,” the report says.
The United States remains the leading country in nuclear power generation, ahead of France and China, and its 94 reactors account for about a third of global production.
But the country has built only two new reactors in the last decade, both of which came years late and billions of dollars over budget.
In December, China opened the world's first fourth-generation nuclear plant in Shidao Bay in eastern Shandong province.
Chinese state media has touted the reactors as safer and more efficient than previous generations because they use gas for cooling rather than pressurized water.
