According to China Daily quoted by the Twitter page of the Green Leap Forward, China wants to increase tenfold its nuclear power capacity by 2020, from the current 9 GW to 86 GW by 2020. Is this feasible ?
Such a move makes me wonder. Indeed, nuclear power plants require to operate safely specialized engineers and stringent safety measures which would be difficult to have while building so many plants.
For the past decades China have shown the world it can do seemingly impossible things. I believe they can do it again with nuclear power.
Meanwhile, the New York Times notes the country will also invest massively in renewables:
As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower.
Through a combination of carrots and sticks, Beijing is starting to change how this country generates energy. Although coal remains the biggest energy source and is almost certain to stay that way, the rise of renewable energy, especially wind power, is helping to slow China’s steep growth in emissions of global warming gases.
We previously saw that the People’s Republic is willing to have 35% of its electricity provided by clean sources by 2020. With such measures, one can believe they can do it.
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