The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

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China and Russia account for 70% of new nuclear plants

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Energy/China-and-Russia-account-for-70-of-new-nuclear-plants

TOKYO -- Russia and China are building up an outsized presence in the field of nuclear power, with the countries accounting for nearly 70% of reactors under construction or in planning worldwide.

Meanwhile, construction plans in Japan, the U.S. and Europe were largely put on hold after the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, resulting in a stagnation of related industries in those countries.

wows thought, Fukushima should never have been built so close to the ocean. DUH

As of January, there were 110 third-generation nuclear reactors, for which safety measures were strengthened in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, under construction or planning, according to the Japan Electric Power Information Center.

China accounts for the most, with 46, followed by Russia with 30. The two countries account for 69% of the total.

Notably, 33 of the reactors are being constructed or planned outside each respective country. Russia has the largest number of overseas reactors with 19, and despite growing opposition from Europe and the U.S. following its invasion of Ukraine, it maintains a strong global influence in nuclear power.

In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin participated remotely in a ceremony to mark the arrival of the first fuel at the under-construction Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom plans to begin operations at the plant, Turkey's first, this year. The project is a symbol of the deep ties between the countries, which are a concern for the West.

Russia's nuclear power diplomacy is extending to other countries as well. In May, Rosatom began full-scale construction on Unit 3 of the Dabaa nuclear plant in Egypt, the country's first.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Rosatom officials this month to discuss the company's plans to build a new nuclear power plant in the country's south. Hungary opposes sanctions the European Union has imposed on Rosatom.

"Many developing countries take a positive view of Russia," Kacper Szulecki of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs told British scientific journal Nature Energy. Russia's acceptance of spent nuclear fuel is also attractive to emerging countries.

Meanwhile, China is deepening its engagement with Pakistan. In May, the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority issued an operating permit for the Unit 3 reactor of the Karachi nuclear power plant. This reactor is the Hualong One, which was designed by Chinese players including the state-owned China National Nuclear Corp.

Hualong One has an output of about 1 gigawatt and is based on U.S. and French pressurized water reactor technology. China's involvement in Pakistan is deep, including financial assistance and construction of the Karachi Unit 2 reactor.

China also plans to build a nuclear plant in Argentina. The U.S. asked Argentina to cancel the project, but President Alberto Fernandez decided to go ahead with it, waving away possible threats posed by China as something promoted by the U.S. in an interview with Chinese media.

"China is pitching Hualong One to emerging countries, and exports will definitely increase," said Yuji Kuroda of the Japan Electric Power Information Center. If China and Russia boost their dominance in nuclear power, a key to energy security, their influence in the international political arena will become even stronger.

The U.S., Japan and Europe are hoping to catch up using small modular reactors (SMRs), considered fourth-generation technology.

SMRs are relatively small, with an output of 300 megawatts or less. They are considered very safe because they are designed to more easily cool nuclear fuel in case of an accident.

itachi-GE Nuclear Energy -- a joint venture of General Electric and Hitachi -- and U.S. company NuScale Power separately aim to bring SMRs online in the latter half of the decade.

"The U.S. government is helping to advance the development of this groundbreaking American technology," U.S. President Joe Biden said about NuScale's plan to build an SMR in Romania.

Washington is moving to curb the rise of China and Russia in this field by promoting SMRs in such countries as Thailand and the Philippines as well.

Japan has plans for eight new reactors, including one at the Oma nuclear power plant now under construction in Aomori prefecture. Screenings of proposed reactors stalled after safety standards were tightened following the Fukushima disaster, but the government changed course in light of a power crunch. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called for existing reactors to be replaced with next-generation reactors that are safer.

But Japan's competitiveness in nuclear power has waned. Its exports related to nuclear power fell from 131.4 billion yen ($943 million at current rates) in 2010 to 21.4 billion yen in 2020. A similar descent can be seen in the U.S. and many parts of Europe because they were wary about building new reactors.

"Supply chains in Japan, the U.S. and Europe have weakened due to such factors as the retirement of engineers, so there are more cases now in which we lose to China and Russia in terms of technology," said an official at Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Another issue is nuclear fuel. Uranium enrichment has become the weak link for Western nations. Enrichment facilities are limited, and Russia is the global leader for that process.

In April, the U.S., the U.K., France, Canada and Japan formed a nuclear fuel alliance. While the aim is to shut out Russian fuel from Western reactors, doing so will not be easy.

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