China's Fast Breeder Nuclear Reactor Work Advances Toward 2020 Target

As reported in today's Wall Street Journal, China is on-target to bring on line its Experimental Fast Reactor, with an 800 Megawatt capacity, by 2020. The project, based on Russian breeder technology and developed by China's Atomic Energy Fast Reactor Experiment Department, is a "fourth-generation" nuclear technology, designed to use fast neutrons from the fission reaction to breed fissile fuel that can then power China's conventional nuclear plants. In this way, China will be less dependent upon imported supplies of uranium in the future. The United States killed its breeder reactor program in the early 1980s, thanks to the (left) anti-nuclear proliferation mafia, and President Reagan's (right) "free enterprise" economic ideology.

Xu Mi, chief engineer of the Institute, stated that the reactor, which will be located in Fujian province, will begin construction in 2012-13, and will come on line in 2020. The critical importance of China mastering breeder technology stems from its planned reliance on nuclear energy. Over the next ten years, China plans to increase the portion of its electricity generated by nuclear energy from 2% up to 5%, involving the construction of a couple dozen new reactors. By 2030, China could have as many as 100 nuclear plants, catching up to the until-now largest nuclear generator—the United States.