By succeeding in reprocessing spent nuclear fuel in an experimental reactor, China has made an important technological step forward in ensuring its long-term energy security, experts say.
The feat by the China National Nuclear Corporation -- announced Monday with much fanfare on state television -- has already been achieved by other nations, and it remains to be seen whether it can be done on an industrial scale.
But the successful reuse of irradiated nuclear fuel, developed at a CNNC plant in the country's remote northwest, is likely to be key in China's efforts to diversify its energy mix, especially away from highly-polluting coal.
The work by CNNC "is a crucial step towards resolving the raw materials problem faced by the nuclear industry (in China), one already tackled by the other main nuclear powers," Lin Boqiang, director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told AFP.
The report was scant on details about the so-called Chinese "breakthrough", but said it would help extend the lifespan of Beijing's proven uranium deposits to 3,000 years, from the current forecast of 50-70 years.
CNNC general manager Sun Qin said in the report that China had joined a "minority of countries" to have a complete nuclear fuel cycle. France and Russia are among the nations already reprocessing nuclear fuel.
A Beijing-based Western expert on nuclear technology, who asked not to be named, told AFP that while earlier tests involved non-radioactive products, China had "moved on to active tests with fissile, radioactive material".
China currently has 13 nuclear reactors and has given the green light to plans for 34 others, 26 of which are already under construction, People's Daily -- the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party -- said Tuesday.
Beijing has stepped up investment in nuclear power in an effort to slash its world-leading carbon emissions and scale down the nation's heavy reliance on coal, which accounts for 70 percent of its energy needs.
China, which overtook Japan in mid-2010 to become the world's second-largest economy, is the world's biggest energy consumer, according to the International Energy Agency.
It aims to get 15 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
It wants to increase nuclear power capacity to 112 gigawatts by 2020, which would account for about seven percent of the country's total installed power capacity, state press reports have said.
The government said previously the target was 70 gigawatts.
China currently produces around 750 tonnes of uranium a year but annual demand could rise to 20,000 tonnes a year by 2020, according to state media.
CNNC is developing a uranium mine in the poor west African country of Niger, which produced its first barrel of ore last week.
In order for China to greatly increase the amount of power generated from its existing uranium stocks, it would have to develop the capability to use nearly all of the non-fissile uranium-238.
That can be achieved by rapid neutron reactors, which France expects to see come on-stream in about 2040 -- and which one expert hinted was the path being taken by CNNC.
"China has made a concrete breakthrough in the development of fourth generation, rapid neutron nuclear technology," Ye Qizhen, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told the China Business News after the announcement.
Lin said recycled nuclear fuel can be used by the third-generation reactors, such as the ones developed by France's Areva and US-based Westinghouse Electric, and being built in China.
But he noted that so far, nuclear fuel reprocessing in China is still in the experimental phase.
"For now, we don't know if new technical problems will crop up in the transition to (industrial) production," he said.
Source: www.bangkokpost.com
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