The blue book "Prospective Research on Nuclear Energy Support for Low Carbon Development" jointly prepared by China and France was officially released globally in Paris a few days ago. This is an innovative attempt of China France nuclear energy cooperation at a new historical starting point, marking the expansion of China France nuclear energy cooperation from "hard core" technical cooperation to a more forward-looking "soft science" field. As the wisdom crystallization of the cooperation between China and France, the Blue Book provides a highly referential guidance for the development of nuclear energy in many countries in the world.
According to Yu Jianfeng, the chairman of China Nuclear Industry Group Co., Ltd., this is the first cooperation between the Chinese and French nuclear energy industry in the field of strategic planning research. The Blue Book absorbs the rich and valuable experience of many senior technical experts and managers in the nuclear energy industry of both countries, focuses on the unique advantages of nuclear energy in supporting low-carbon development, and takes solid cases and data as the basis, The important role of nuclear energy in coping with climate change and promoting economic transformation was studied in depth, and the development trend of global nuclear energy was analyzed, and new ideas and patterns of nuclear energy development were proposed.
The Blue Book systematically summarizes the significance of nuclear power generation for coping with global climate change and promoting energy transformation. According to the Blue Book, from 1971 to 2022, global nuclear power generation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 70 billion tons. Without the contribution of nuclear power, global carbon emissions from fossil energy power generation will increase by nearly one fifth in the past 50 years. In recent years, nuclear power generation accounts for about one tenth of the world's total power generation and more than one quarter of the world's low-carbon power generation.
As a clean energy, the outstanding advantages of nuclear energy include: first, the carbon reduction effect is remarkable. One million kilowatt nuclear power unit can reduce carbon dioxide equivalent by more than 6 million tons a year, equivalent to 18000 hectares of afforestation. At the same time, it also has the synergistic emission reduction effect of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other atmospheric pollutants; Second, nuclear power has strong stability and high reliability, which is suitable for basic load of power grid and necessary load tracking, and can be developed in coordination with wind and solar power and other new energy sources; Third, effectively drive economic growth. The research of the International Monetary Fund shows that the economic multiplier effect of nuclear power is two to three times that of other energy sources. The development of nuclear power can create a large number of high-level jobs and promote the innovation of multi-purpose utilization of nuclear power.
The Blue Book clarifies the global picture of the new wave of nuclear energy development and provides forward-looking guidance for emerging nuclear energy countries. The Blue Book disclosed that in recent years, in order to better cope with climate change and accelerate the energy transition, many countries have expressed strong interest in building nuclear power, many of which are "global southern" countries. In Africa, South Africa promotes the research and development of advanced nuclear technology, including small reactors. Egypt plans to achieve nuclear power accounting for 9% of the total power generation of the country by 2030; In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries plan to build large pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants or small reactors and fourth generation nuclear power systems; In South Asia, India clearly proposed that its nuclear power installed capacity would triple by 2032; In Latin America, Brazil proposed to increase 8 to 10 gigawatts of nuclear power installed capacity by 2050.
From the perspective of technical path, PWR will be the mainstream reactor in operation for a long time after continuous upgrading to improve safety and economy. There are three main types of nuclear power reactors in operation around the world: pressurized water reactors, boiling water reactors and pressurized heavy water reactors, accounting for 68%, 14% and 11% of the global nuclear motor assembly capacity respectively. In addition, graphite moderated reactors account for less than 6%. It is predicted in the Blue Book that PWR will be the most widely used reactor type technology for the three generation large reactors up to the 1950s.
It is worth noting that multi-purpose modular small reactors (SMRs) have become the hot direction of nuclear energy technology innovation. At present, more than 80 types of micro and small reactors are being developed worldwide, covering a variety of reactor types. According to the Blue Book, after 2030, if technological maturity and economic benefits continue to make breakthroughs, SMRs will account for an increasing proportion of new nuclear power units in the world.
In addition, the blue book also systematically combed the practical achievements of China's nuclear power construction, introduced in detail the third generation pressurized water reactor nuclear power technology "Hualong No.1" independently developed and designed by China, and demonstrated China's international leading level in nuclear power engineering construction, nuclear power equipment supply system, and refined management of nuclear power engineering, so as to help the world understand the development of China's nuclear power industry Expanding nuclear energy cooperation between China and foreign countries provides valuable reference.
China France nuclear energy cooperation has been carried out for more than 40 years and has yielded fruitful results. Today, China France practical cooperation is deepening in many fields, and China France innovative cooperation is surging with vitality. In this era, people expect that China France nuclear energy cooperation will make a new chapter and bring more new impetus to global green development.
