Advertisement
Small modular nuclear reactors: how China and the US are poles apart in energy ambitions
- As China stands at the forefront of nuclear energy, work on its Linglong One small modular reactor is progressing
- But it is a different story in the United States where high costs, lack of staff and delays have seen yet another reactor project shelved
Reading Time:7 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
38
If it was not for the signage at the entrance, it would be difficult to find the site of Linglong One – a facility that will be the world’s first commercial onshore small modular reactor (SMR).
Advertisement
This inconspicuous project is located in Changjiang county, on Hainan province’s northwest coast, right next to China’s southernmost nuclear plant: the Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant. Transport vehicles carrying materials come and go, raising clouds of dust along the road leading to the plant.
Linglong One is expected to be completed in 2026 and once operations begin, it will have a power generation capacity of 125 megawatts and be capable of producing 1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year, meeting the needs of 526,000 households. But Linglong One will have many uses besides electricity production, including heating, steam production and seawater desalination.
Its construction is closely linked to the country’s larger power plants, and progress has been smooth, thanks to the experience and resources already amassed.
In early November, Linglong One announced a milestone: the completion of the reactor’s capsule-like steel safety shell.
Advertisement
It is in sharp contrast to the United States, where, also at the start of last month, a planned project to build a novel six-reactor, 462MW SMR by 2030 was terminated.
03:31
China joins UN mission testing radiation levels near Fukushima plant after waste water release
China joins UN mission testing radiation levels near Fukushima plant after waste water release
Advertisement