First nuclear reactor domestically made in China goes online

Photo Credits: AFP

China has developed its first nuclear reactor prepared domestically, the Hualong One, a move, that will drive Beijing to become power driven and more independent from Western Allies regarding critical technology and energy security.

Hualong One, connected to national grid on Friday has the capacity of generating 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and deduct carbon emissions by as much as 8.16 million tons, as reported by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

CNNC revealed in a statement, “This marks China breaking the monopoly of foreign nuclear power technology and officially entering the technology’s first batch of advanced countries.”

In 2019, the nuclear plants contributed to less than 5 per cent of the annual electricity requirement of China, as per the National Energy Administration, however, the share is anticipated to have a higher growth with Beijing’s attempts to becoming Carbon Neutral by 2060.

The development of Hualong One was started in 2015, and presently, six more reactors are on-going construction at home and abroad, as reported by state owned plant operator CNNC. Hualong One will be subjected to commercial use by the year end. China, currently, has 47 nuclear plants have overall electricity generation capacity of 48.75 million kilowatts, which is third highest in the world following United States and France.

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