China-U.S. cooperation to advance nuclear power

Abstract

ith China having the largest fossil fuel CO 2 emissions today and the United States being higher in per capita emissions (see related energy consumption in the first figure), these countries have a strong mutual interest in stabilizing climate and reducing air pollution. Yet even Germany, despite sizable subsidies of renewable energies, gets only a small fraction of energy from them (see the first figure). Historically the fastest growth of low-carbon power occurred during scale-up of national nuclear power programs (see the second figure). Some studies project that a doubling to quadrupling of nuclear energy output is required in the next few decades, along with a large expansion of renewable energy, in order to achieve deep cuts in fossil fuel use while meeting the growing global demand for affordable, reliable energy (1-4). In light of this large-scale energy and emissions picture, climate and nuclear energy experts from China and the United States convened (see Acknowledgments) to consider the potential of increased cooperation in developing advanced nuclear technologies. Barriers to expansion of nuclear energy include high construction costs relative to coal and gas; a long time to build conventional large nuclear plants (about 4 to 7 years in Asia versus 1 or 2 years for coal-fired plants); and public concern about reactor safety, waste disposal, and potential for weapons use. Innovative nuclear technologies can help address some of these issues. A large reduction of cost and construction time, essential to accelerate deployment rates, likely requires mass manufacturing, analogous to ship and airplane construction. Such an approach lends itself to product-type licens

Positioning Nuclear Power in the Low-Carbon Electricity Transition

“…Nuclear power is being advocated as a main option for sustainable energy supply in the immediate future, without solid argumentation as to why this assertion is valid [1,23,24]. Effective assessment of nuclear fission power in terms of sustainability requires an elaborated set of nineteen criteria on the four main sustainability dimensions i.e.,.…”

“…Prevention is the second-best remedy after precaution, and the best when earlier precaution was neglected. By for example IEA [3], IPCC [2], Cao et al [1], the rational economic behavior of citizens is labeled as a barrier for building more nuclear power. We think that it is a salutary and necessary barrier.…”

“…But this single performance does not suffice to ignore the other eighteen criteria. Ignoring them is standard in official rhetoric about the future role of nuclear power [1][2][3].…”

“…In practice, atomic energy conversion delivers only electric power; therefore, positioning nuclear power focuses on the transition of the electricity supply sector, as the spearhead of the overall energy transition. It is not helpful to argue about the position of nuclear power with gross primary energy statistics, as done by Cao et al [1]. The new impetus given to low carbon transition requires thorough consideration of the energy sources and technologies that the global community will be passing onto the future generations.…”

Pressure-induced structural transformations and polymerization in ThC2

“…Thorium, as the new frontier of nuclear energy, has attracted increasing interest worldwidely5. Several nations, including China, India and United States, are taking a close look at thorium as a nuclear fuel56. Thorium is three to four times more naturally abundant than uranium678.…”