China’s nuclear reactors brace for intensifying climate extremes with new technology

Extreme weather is disrupting nuclear power generation in parts of the world, but it is unlikely to derail China’s rapid expansion of the industry, according to the South China Morning Post.

An unusually hot and dry summer has forced reactors across Europe to reduce output or shut down, with drought and soaring river temperatures affecting plants from France to Romania.

France, where nuclear power supplies around 70 percent of electricity, suffered a record shortfall of more than 20 percent in nuclear capacity, with outages linked to drought, extreme heat and an invasion of jellyfish, Le Monde reported on Aug 11.

Nuclear plants require substantial amounts of cooling water. But while many European reactors rely on rivers, China has largely built its plants along the coast, allowing them to use open seawater for cooling, the Hong Kong-based English language newspaper said.

That makes Chinese reactors less vulnerable to drought and heatwaves, Francois Morin, China director of the World Nuclear Association, told SCMP.

Coastal plants still face storms and rising sea levels, but China’s extensive experience with typhoons means such threats can be incorporated into reactor design, Morin said.

“Like earthquakes, typhoons can be managed through appropriate design and engineering measures,” he said on Jul 29, according to SCMP.

The Lufeng nuclear project in Guangdong illustrates that approach. Its six third-generation units are being built in an area exposed to typhoons, torrential rain and storm surges.

According to a Jinan Times report cited by SCMP, extreme weather risks were considered from the earliest design stages. The site is engineered to withstand ground movement from a once-in-10,000-year earthquake, while its flood defences can cope with rainfall associated with a one-in-1,000-year event.

The nuclear-island structures are also designed to withstand Force 17 winds, associated with super typhoons.

Project safety chief Zhang Min said a comprehensive early-warning and emergency-response system was in place, including standardised procedures and emergency drills for exceptionally powerful typhoons.

The project has already weathered several major storms, including Typhoon Ragasa last September, with no reported safety incidents, SCMP said.

Morin believes China’s technological advances could further strengthen its nuclear sector against climate change and eventually make inland reactors more viable.

China is developing fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled reactors that do not use water as their primary coolant. A fast-neutron demonstration reactor is also operating in Fujian, using liquid sodium or lead as coolant.

China’s National Climate Centre warned as early as 2011 that nuclear plants themselves could become vulnerable to climate change.

“The bottom line is that nuclear power must adapt to climate change while also taking measures to mitigate the effects. This is a major challenge,” it said, according to SCMP.

China connected its first nuclear plant to the grid in 1991. Today, it is building reactors faster and more cheaply than many peers, with the State Council approving at least 10 reactors annually since 2022.

At the current pace, China is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s largest nuclear operator by installed capacity within five years.