China plans to launch commercial operations at the world’s first small modular reactor (SMR) to generate nuclear energy as early as in the first half of 2026, according to the president of the China Institute of Nuclear Industry Strategy.
The Linglong One reactor was the first SMR to be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2016.
Linglong One, based in Hainan province in China, earlier this year completed its primary circuit cold functional test, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said in October.
“Linglong One is the first commercial onshore small modular reactor worldwide to pass the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety review, representing a major breakthrough in China's independent nuclear innovation,” CNNC said at the time.
China will use Linglong One and other small reactors predominantly to meet power demand in places with weaker grids, Wang Zhenqing, president of CNNC’s China Institute of Nuclear Industry Strategy, said at an energy event in Beijing, as carried by Reuters.
The small modular reactors are believed to be simpler and cheaper to build and install. Because of their smaller size, it is possible to install SMRs on sites that are not suitable for bigger reactors. They are also significantly cheaper and faster to build than conventional reactors and can be constructed incrementally to meet the growing energy demand of a site.
While China plans commercial launch of the first SMR, the U.S. is years away from its own operational small modular reactor.
A few weeks ago, China also unveiled a major breakthrough in nuclear reactor materials and technology that could pave the way to safer fission energy with less waste and no water use for cooling. Scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences now announce they have converted thorium into uranium in the thorium molten salt reactor, in a world-first such scientific breakthrough.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
