China is on track to launch six to eight nuclear power generation units each year between 2021 and 2025, according to a report recently issued by China Nuclear Energy Association on nuclear development outlook.
By end-2019, China had 47 nuclear power units in operation (excl. data of Taiwan area), with a total installed capacity of 48.75 GW, ranking third worldwide after the US and France, the report said.
The country will have 51 nuclear units by the end of 2020 and more than 17 are in the pipeline, it said.
In 2019, the country's nuclear power generation totaled 348.1 TWh, up 18.9% year on year. By the end of last year, there were 13 nuclear units under construction with a total capacity of 13.87 GW, which continued to top the world.
Before 2019, construction of new nuclear power units has been shelved for a long time. After eight units got approved in 2015, China didn't greenlit any nuclear projects in 2016 and there were only one project breaking ground in 2017. Zero new projects were approved again in 2018.
For the significance of layout of nuclear power projects, the report believed the nuclear development will satisfy the growth of power demand in the central provinces like Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi and make a great contribution to local economy development.
Currently, nuclear power still takes a small share of the energy mix in China. By end 2019, nuclear only accounted for 2.42% of total China's installed capacity, and its power generation in 2019 was less than 5% of China's total.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Tammy Yang)
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