Targeting its overwhelming coal power capacity – enough to run the entire United States – China is investigating plans to convert retiring coal-fired plants into nuclear power stations.
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Driven by decarbonisation goals and land scarcity, this “Coal to Nuclear” (C2N) strategy proposes leveraging retiring plants’ grid and water access for compact, meltdown-proof reactors, potentially offering a faster path to clean energy than building nuclear sites from scratch.
And China could be the only country capable of doing this because its high-temperature gas-cooled reactor and molten salt thorium reactor, which could generate much hotter steam than ordinary reactors to power the coal-fired gas turbines with high efficiency, are already up and running.
These fourth-generation reactors could also have a greater chance of meeting site safety requirements and public acceptance, according to the researchers involved in the project.
China is home to over 1.19 terawatts of coal-fired power capacity, with roughly 100 gigawatts (GW) of coal capacity expected to reach retirement by 2030.
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The C2N initiative, proposed by China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd (CEEC), the nation’s top state-owned energy infrastructure builder, offers a direct path to decarbonisation while preserving valuable infrastructure, especially in the coastal areas.
