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China Builds World's Most Powerful Nuclear Reactor; Regulators "Overwhelmed"
We are sure this will end well. Just as China took the 'if we build it (on free credit), they will come' growth model to extremes in real estate; it appears their ambitions in nuclear energy production are just as grandiose. However, just as they lost control of the real estate market, Bloomberg reports China is moving quickly to become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor even as France’s nuclear regulator says communication and cooperation on safety measures with its Chinese counterparts are lacking. France has a lot riding on a smooth roll out of China’s European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) as it is home to Areva, which developed the next-gen reactor, and utility EdF, which oversees the project. French regulators, speaking in parliament, warned, "the Chinese safety authorities lack means. They are overwhelmed."
Not what you want to hear as the nation embarks on the biggest nuclear energy facility creation ever, "if too many nuclear power projects are started too quickly, it could jeopardize the healthy, long-term development of nuclear power..." and the Chinese (just ask the Japanese).
As Bloomberg reports, China is moving quickly to become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor even as France’s nuclear regulator says communication and cooperation on safety measures with its Chinese counterparts are lacking.
Chinese builders are entering the final construction stages for two state-of-the-art European Pressurized Reactors. Each will produce about twice as much electricity as the average reactor worldwide.
The French are in charge... kinda...
France has a lot riding on a smooth roll out of China’s EPRs. The country is home to Areva SA (AREVA), which developed the next-generation reactor, and utility Electricite de France SA, which oversees the project. The two companies, controlled by the French state, need a safe, trouble-free debut in China to ensure a future for their biggest new product in a generation. And French authorities have not hidden their concerns.
And are not happy...
“Unfortunately, collaboration isn’t at a level we would wish it to be” with China, Jamet said. “One of the explanations for the difficulties in our relations is that the Chinese safety authorities lack means. They are overwhelmed.”
...
“the state of conservation” of large components like pumps and steam generators at Taishan “was not at an adequate level” and was “far” from the standards of the two other EPR plants,
China is rushing...
Some 28 reactors of various models are currently under construction in China. That’s more building than any other nation on the planet, and the country hasn’t reported a serious nuclear accident in the 22 years it has operated nuclear plants for commercial use.
“If the current momentum of development continues, if too many nuclear power projects are started too quickly, it could jeopardize the healthy, long-term development of nuclear power,” Fan Bi, a deputy director at the State Council Research Office, wrote in an article for Outlook Magazine, published by the official Xinhua news agency, two months before the Fukushima disaster.
China General, the country’s biggest atomic operator is forging ahead with EDF. It will begin critical tests on the most advanced of the 1,650-megawatt Taishan EPRs before start-up in 2015
But the Chinese nuclear regulator is a "total black box"
The Chinese regulator’s website contains relatively little information about safety issues. The most recent post on Taishan is a 2009 report on the start of cement work at the reactor referring to “problems left over from early-stage construction.” It said all current work was up to standards, without elaborating. In total just nine posts on the website mention Taishan, and many are blank apart from the title.
Critics of China’s nuclear safety regime, including Albert Lai, chairman of The Professional Commons, a Hong Kong think tank, says that lack of information risks eroding confidence in safety controls in what’s set to be a 14-fold increase of atomic capacity by 2030.
“The workings of China’s atomic safety authority are a ‘‘total black box,’’ said Lai. ‘‘China has no transparency whatsoever."
And even the Chinese are nervous...
And in a rare public comment about safety concerns, China’s own State Council Research Office three years ago warned that the development of the country’s power plants may be accelerating too quickly.
We are sure this will all end well...
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"China is moving quickly to become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor"
Ordinarily I excuse the nearly routine errors in punctuation and semantics, but "first" and "most" do NOT belong in the same sentence unless no one has built a nuclear reactor in the past, and even then the word "most" would be superfluous as it could just as easily be replaced by "least".
Geezuz try proof reading your work. Posters are typically in a hurry and their errors are very excusable. Writers? Not so much.
Looks like they learned from Fukushima. Build the NPP on the coast, so you can dump the material into the ocean.
And the idiots didn't build a Thorium one.
become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor
Are these Bloomberg writers high?
That line is a completely nonsensical statement.
become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor
Are these Bloomberg writers high?
That line is a completely nonsensical statement.
There's your $90,000 masters degree in journalism in action . . . .
Great! Nuclear radiation is the last thing missing in ze chinese lakes to awaken ze frankengodzilla.
Overheard at a meeting of the Chinese leaders - "America had Three Mile Island, the Russians had Chernobyl, the Japanese had Fukushima - if we are to be considered a global power we must have our own nuclear disaster!"
I have heard the Chinese are building cold fusion reactors. We had this technology since the 50s, only downside you can't make NUKES from them.
cold fusion doesn't exist. Fusion is being researched at ITER to prove the feasibility.
Kewl, gives Japan and Vietnam targets when that South China Sea business gets going.
Oh yes, and French reactors in China? What will China do with the inevitable cheese byproducts?
This will help to reduce the population (of 1,5000.000.000) in China.
wonder if they are going to put
the used fuel rod pool
60 feet up in the air...
dumbest design ever...
Blame Japanese rice subsidies for this one. Seriously.
The rice subsidy makes land so incredibly expensive that everything on that silly island gets built on postage stamps.
Nuclear power is lunacy. It doesn't matter how safe the plants are (and the track record there ought to give one pause).
The real problem is that we are creating millions of tons of radioactive waste that has to be tended to for the next fifty millenia.
Trust me on this -- Western Civilization isn't going to last that long.
Ever heard of Moleten Salt Thorium Reactors unirealist. You can't make the damn things go nuts and their decay products are gone not in milennia but decades. Edumacate youself.
And just how many of said Thorium reactors are commercially operational today?
(Rhetorical question.)
And just how many of said Thorium reactors are commercially operational today?
Very few. You can't make nuclear weapons out of their fuel (see Japan regarding that issue) so the military/industrial complex has no use for them . . . . .
Nodhannum, I'm all for molten salt thorium reactors, but that's not what we've got, is it?
Move to Russia if you want to make money this century.
Chinese Smithfield foods can stuff their Chinese pigs full of radioactive waste and send their products to the US.
Bacon that has an long shelf life and glows in the dark.
Bacon that has an long shelf life and glows in the dark.
At least you'll be able to find it if the bulb burns out in your fridge.
Thorium Bitches! Thorium!
Watch this: (11 Minutes. Just do it. It'll change your view on energy and Thorium.)
Car Runs For 100 Years Without Refueling - The Thorium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6wQP2qaaEk
(2 Hours and well worth it) - Cheap,abundant & very safe nuclear power.....Thorium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLk46BZfEMs
# Uranium-Fueled Light-Water Reactor
--------------------------------------------------
# Fuel Uranium fuel rods
# Fuel input per gigawatt output 250 tons raw uranium
# Annual fuel cost for 1-GW reactor $50-60 million
# Coolant Water
# Proliferation potential Medium
# Footprint 200,000-300,000 square feet, surrounded by a low-density population zone
# Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor
-----------------------------------------------
# Fuel Thorium and uranium fluoride solution
# Fuel input per gigawatt output 1 ton raw thorium
# Annual fuel cost for 1-GW reactor $10,000 (estimated)
# Coolant Self-regulating
# Proliferation potential None
# Footprint 2,000-3,000 square feet, with no need for a buffer zone
# Spent Uranium can be re-burned and rendered inert in a Thorium reactor.
We had a chance to consider Thoriusm and delay the construction of Nuclear power plants by 20 years. The material sciences at the time was not up to snuff.
Today we have most of the materials technology solved, but they are not built because they need fissionable material for Nuclear weapons stockpiles.
Nice reason to not invest in Thorium huh?
The chinese are insecure "know it alls" who believe if they passed a simplistic multiple choice test they have mastery. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near those plants.
The French are probably kicking themselves. Giving this technology to rich "educated" peasants is a faustian bargain indeed.
Small dicks, big reactors...
I guess we will have to see what happens. :-)
These are state of the art 21st century nuclear designs, not the old crud operating in Japan or Europe, or the USA.
have to outdo us (three mile island), the russians (chernobyl), and the japanese (fukushima).
While not in an effort to convince you or anyone else, China has the benefit of years of research into passive safety design systems. If they can keep their little hands off the controls during any major trip or accident these new passive NSSS units should automatically shut down with physics taking over.