Wednesday February 01, 2006

China : Nuclear Leap Forward

peakoil.com -> msnbc.msn.com :

While experts in the United States and Europe talk about reviving plans for nuclear power, China, as in so many other fields, is racing ahead. The so-called pebblebed technology behind the Beijing test plant originated in Germany more than three decades ago. China expects to complete a small commercial plant, which will produce 195 megawatts of electricity, within five years in the eastern province of Shandong.

In the pebblebed reactor, thousands of tennis-ball-size spheres coated in layers of silicon carbide, ceramic material and graphite each contain thousands of granules of the fuel, uranium dioxide. Because the pebbles dissipate heat so efficiently, say the designers, the fuel inside them couldn't possibly get hot enough to penetrate the graphite casing. The pebble-bed reactor, in fact, doesn't even have a containment vessel. Also, the main coolant for the system is inert helium, not water, as in other types of reactors. As global warming and politics render the world's reliance on fossil fuels problematic, China may in a few short years hold the key to a renaissance in nuclear power.

And the pebblebed reactor is only a small part of China's nuclear ambitions. In the past few years, Beijing has embarked on the boldest nuclear-energy plan since the one orchestrated by the United States in the 1970s. Chinese leaders recognize that their reliance on fossil fuels - about 80 percent of China's energy comes from coal - is unsustainable. Nuclear power has thus become an essential part of their plan to prevent an energy and environmental crisis.

Even if the nuclear strategy is a runaway success, it won't come close to solving China's energy problems. Demand far surpasses supply - in large part because Chinese companies are notoriously inefficient energy consumers. China is quickly running out of raw materials, such as coal, while demand for electricity has seen double-digit growth for more than three years. Renewable-energy sources won't come close to meeting China's needs. But that only fuels the urgency Chinese officials express when discussing the nuclear boom. "We need every type of energy," says Zhang Zuoyi, head of the institute that helps run the pebblebed test reactor. "We are hungry." China's leaders won't listen to naysayers. They can't afford to.

(2006-02-01 13:43:57 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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