China has become the world leader in nuclear energy: new records and promising plans

China has become the world's largest nuclear power plant (NPP) capacity. This was announced in the China Atomic Energy Association's (CNEA) "China-2025: Nuclear Energy Development Report".

According to the report, China currently has 102 nuclear power units in operation, under construction or licensed for construction with a total capacity of 113 million kilowatts. This indicator has elevated the country to the status of the most powerful nuclear power plant in the world.

In 2024, China's nuclear power generation reached 444.7 billion kilowatt-hours. Thus, the country ranked second in this indicator after the United States. In addition, nuclear energy accounted for 4.72% of the country's total electricity generation.

The report also noted that China is currently rapidly continuing the construction of 28 new nuclear power units with a total installed capacity of 33.65 million kilowatts. The country has been the world leader in this indicator for 18 consecutive years.

In June 2023, another important event took place in China - for the first time in the country's history, a thorium reactor was launched. The South China Morning Post reported that the State Administration of Nuclear Safety of China has approved the operation of the first 2-megawatt thorium reactor.

According to experts, thorium resources are very large in China, and according to some estimates, this reserve is enough to meet the country's energy needs for more than 20 thousand years.

China continues to pay special attention to the development of nuclear energy. New achievements in this area pave the way for the country to continue to lead the international energy market in the future.

News