Market Trends of China Nuclear Power Plant Equipment Industry
Pressurized Water Reactors to Dominate the Market
- Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) are the most popular type on the market because they have benefits like being stable at different temperatures. The greater the stability, the simpler it is to operate. PWR is utilized to pump water into the reactor core to prevent water from boiling under high pressure. The core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, and the moderator, nuclear fuel, coolant, and control rods are present in the core of the reactor pressure vessel.
- The PHWR design requires thin-walled pressure tubes, unlike PWR nuclear plants. This allows the distribution of pressure boundaries in many small-diameter pressure tubes. As a result, this design has a lesser chance of accidental rupture of a pressure boundary compared to PWR designs. Therefore, PHWR is considered safer than PWR plants.
- In 2021, 5% of the electricity in China was projected to be generated from nuclear energy. Despite many countries reducing their reliance on nuclear power following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, China was among the few countries to maintain a strong nuclear energy share. China's operable nuclear power capacity reached 52.15 GW in 2022, placing it third worldwide after the United States and France in terms of operating nuclear power.
- During 2021, China added 2 PWR reactors to the grid, and in January 2022, China added another PWR reactor to the grid, the Fuqing 6 reactor, with a net capacity of 1000 MW. In January 2021, the Fuqing-5 nuclear reactor became the first Chinese Generation III pressurized water nuclear reactor model Hualong-1 to be used for commercial purposes.China also started construction on six new PWRs during 2021.
- Additionally, the country is also exporting technology and developing PWR nuclear reactors in many countries, such as Pakistan, Romania, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and Argentina, and this is expected to improve market prospects for PWR technology in these countries. Because of these things, it is likely that China will be one of the biggest markets for PWR reactors over the next few years.
- Unit 4 of Xudapu NPP, which was built based on the Russian VVER-1200 design, had its first ceremony with concrete in May 2022. The project has entered the active phase. A VVER reactor is a type of pressurized water reactor (PWR) developed in the Soviet Union and currently operated by the Russian Federation.
- PWR nuclear power plants are expected to be the most popular during the forecast period, thanks to policies and projects that will back them up.
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Rising Demand for Clean Energy in China
- The demand for clean energy is increasing significantly across the country. The primary factor for the growing demand is spreading awareness regarding environmental safety and rising concerns over air pollution.
- Also, the country's government has set goals to have zero emissions by the year 2030. This increases the number of renewable energy sources, such as nuclear power plants, that are put in place to meet the ever-growing energy demand. In terms of emissions, nuclear power is considered clean because it doesn't release carbon dioxide or any other harmful greenhouse gases when it's running.
- China is the largest overall nuclear energy consumer in the Asia-Pacific region. As of December 2022, there were 16 nuclear power plants under construction in the country, and another 31 were planned for construction. With a generation of 407.5 TWh of electricity from nuclear energy in 2021, China's nuclear power generation increased by nearly 65% during 2017-2021. With upcoming projects, dominance is expected to continue in the forecast period.
- China has set goals to increase nuclear power production to 70 GW, and the country wants to build around 150 new reactors to double its nuclear capacity by 2035.
During the forecast period, the demand for equipment that goes with nuclear power plants is likely to rise in the country as more new plants are built.
