China's nuclear power: to achieve the goal of "double carbon", nuclear has 1+N magical uses



China aims to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is a broad and profound economic and social systemic change. Imagine a day in the future when we pick up a product and the CO2 produced throughout the process is already on its label. And when you buy an appliance, its lifetime carbon emissions are also clearly on the label. Imagine, too, that for every kilowatt-hour of electricity we use, we need to charge a tax based on the carbon dioxide emitted during its production...

When carbon emissions become an attribute, a label, how will our lives change? As a green and low-carbon energy, the role of nuclear energy in this social change makes people have unlimited imagination space, and the change led by nuclear energy technology in the field of zero carbon and low carbon is even more exciting. Group company official micro column focus on the "double carbon" target under the nuclear action.

Carbon peak and carbon neutrality, in the public think that it is only human beings in response to the global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, international economic researchers have smelled the smoke that may be brewing, according to the Economist magazine analysis is expected that in the future, a new and more intense game between developed countries and developing countries, may be carried out through the global carbon emission tax. In this fundamental change that may affect the well-being of people around the world, the change of the energy industry, which is currently the main source of carbon emissions, bears the brunt of the change, and the status and role of nuclear energy as a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy source has become more important than ever. As the main force of CNNC to help the country win the "dual carbon" goal, China Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. is also deeply exploring and extensively exploring its own potential, and actively exploring possible business development directions and implementation paths.

To achieve "double carbon", nuclear energy has unique advantages

Has become an international consensus

"The development of nuclear energy is the most realistic strategic choice to achieve the goal of 'double carbon'!" On September 16 this year, at the Tsinghua Wudaokou "Carbon Neutral Economy" Forum, Lu Tiezhong, Party secretary and chairman of China Nuclear Power Co., LTD.

In his view, nuclear energy has the unique advantages of high energy density, small footprint and low long-term operation cost, and can currently replace fossil energy on a large scale, and has become the main force of clean energy in the world. Through the coordinated development of nuclear energy and clean energy such as Wind and water, it is of great significance to optimize the overall layout of energy and ensure the security of energy supply. The higher the proportion of nuclear power in China's energy structure, the more conducive to the grid's large proportion of intermittent renewable energy such as scenery. At the same time, the green development of our society and the diversified needs of the market will also accelerate the diversification of nuclear energy technology.

In August this year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) issued a 2021 "Nuclear Energy Technology Brief" said that "nuclear energy is an important source of low-carbon electricity and heat, helping to achieve carbon neutrality", nuclear power as a low-carbon energy, 50 years to avoid about 74 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to nearly two years of global energy-related emissions. And because nuclear power plants produce both low-carbon electricity and heat, are cost competitive in many parts of the world, and also offer opportunities for decarbonizing energy-intensive industries, nuclear has the potential to increase integration with other low-carbon energy sources in the future decarbonized energy mix.

Thanks to the richest nuclear power reactors in China, China nuclear power also has the industry's leading nuclear power technology service capabilities and management level. As of September 2021, 19 of China's 22 nuclear power units that meet the calculation conditions of the World Association of Nuclear Power Operators (WANO) composite index have reached full 100 points, which fully indicates that its operation and management level has reached the world's advanced.

The proposal of the "dual carbon" goal brings a very good opportunity for the development of nuclear energy and its multi-purpose cause, and also puts forward higher requirements for the high-quality development of the nuclear energy industry. Recently, the Chinese government has also conveyed new expectations for the role of nuclear energy in the "two-carbon" strategy.

On October 24, The State Council issued the "Carbon Peak Action Plan before 2030" clearly proposed to "actively and safely develop nuclear power in an orderly manner." Rationally determine the layout and development timing of nuclear power plants, orderly development of nuclear power under the premise of ensuring safety, and maintain a steady pace of construction. We will actively promote demonstration projects of advanced reactor types such as high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, fast reactors, modular small reactors, and floating reactors at sea, and carry out demonstrations of the comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy. We will intensify efforts to standardize and make nuclear power independent, accelerate research on key technologies and equipment, and cultivate high-end nuclear power equipment manufacturing industrial clusters. We will implement the strictest safety standards and the strictest supervision, and continue to improve our nuclear safety supervision capabilities."

How to seek high-quality development under the premise of serving the "double carbon" strategic goal? It is a topic that China Nuclear Power has been actively thinking about since last year.

Do the real "stock", full of more

I will fight for power

"China's nuclear power will focus on all five sectors to ensure a clean and bright future." At the Wudaokou Forum, Lu Tiezhong introduced the main ways for China's nuclear power to help carbon neutrality.

"Five industries at the same time" is the concept of China nuclear power as early as in the "Development Planning Strategy Outline" formulated in 2019. Now under the "double carbon" goal, it has been given more new connotations.

Especially recently, many places in the country have "pulled the brakes", which has adversely affected the lives of local people, and relevant state departments also encourage power generation enterprises to strive to ensure power supply. As a clean and low-carbon power enterprise, in order to cope with the recent "guaranteed supply" requirements and the long-term "dual carbon" goal, the primary work of China's nuclear power is to ensure the power generation of existing units.

"From May 2021, in accordance with the requirements of the National Energy Administration, SASAC and other competent authorities, we are basically able to make all our electricity under the premise of ensuring safety, and we will fight for electricity." We have generated 10 billion kilowatt-hours more this year than we did last year under the peak-load plan." Said Wang Guohua, director of China's nuclear power safety and Quality Department.

In addition to full power, China's nuclear power is also trying to find breakthroughs from technological improvement and overhaul optimization, in order to improve the power generation capacity of existing units.

"To improve the safe operation management level of nuclear power units and enhance power generation capacity is itself our normal work, first of all, we must do a good job in safety control, especially nuclear safety control, to ensure that nuclear safety is the basis for the development of the nuclear energy industry; Secondly, the equipment reliability management should be carried out to ensure that the unit equipment is more safe and reliable; Thirdly, it is necessary to do a good job of experience feedback and prevention of human error management, and eliminate the non-planned transient caused by human causes; At the same time, it is also necessary to continuously improve the management process optimization of nuclear power plants, especially the core business process optimization, and constantly improve the safety and operation management level of nuclear power plants." Wang Guohua introduced.

"Although the level of operation performance of nuclear power plants continues to improve, compared with the international first-class nuclear power groups, we still have potential in the overhaul of nuclear power units." Since last year, we have set up a special working group on the overhaul and optimization of nuclear power plants to study and promote the overhaul and optimization of nuclear power plants, and have achieved remarkable results. We have completed 15 of the 19 major overhauls in 2021, saving a tenth of last year's time and a total of 66 days of construction time, which equates to about 3 billion KWH more for a megawatt unit."

In order to improve the effectiveness of human error prevention work, China Nuclear Power is studying new incentive programs in addition to the existing incentive measures.

Security control is the most innovative of the three jobs. "We have been conducting safety risk investigation and promoting equipment grading work to identify key sensitive equipment that is more likely to lead to unit shutdown, especially to identify key sensitive equipment for safety and environmental protection, and then strengthen management, which can not only achieve safe and reliable operation, but also improve the level of environmental protection management." Our work has been adopted by the group as a corporate standard and pushed to other sectors. Initially, we will upgrade it to an international standard according to the requirements of the group leadership and recommend it to WANO." Wang Guohua said.

To achieve the goal of "double carbon" is not only the historical mission undertaken by enterprises to achieve global climate and environmental governance and sustainable economic and social development of China, but also the internal demand of nuclear power enterprises to achieve their own high-quality development and green low-carbon transformation. The dual carbon target is both a pressure and a constraint, but also an opportunity. In order to meet the constraints and strive to promote self-improvement, the results achieved are just the "feeding" brought by the "double carbon" goal for the development of enterprises.

In addition, equipment renewal and technical transformation can effectively extend the service life of the unit under the premise of ensuring safety. In the process of production and operation, by replacing more power-saving equipment, adjusting operation mode and other ways to save energy, reduce costs and increase efficiency, it is also a practice that China's nuclear power is actively promoting.

"For example, the 300,000-kilowatt unit of Qinshan Nuclear Power plant has increased to 350,000 kilowatts through a series of technological improvements, and the generation capacity has increased, which means that nuclear power has contributed more to clean energy." China nuclear power strategic investment Department Sun Huapeng said.

But in his view, by "living on a budget" on the existing units, the increment has a "ceiling" after all. While seizing the space for stock optimization and improvement, actively carry out the future industrial and technological layout, and expand the increment is the more long-term choice. Such as the development of new sites, vigorously develop non-nuclear clean energy and explore the multi-purpose of nuclear energy, the development of agile end industries.

Do the "increment"

Prepare the "dishes" well in advance for the country

The "rice" of developing a new plant site depends on the "day" to eat, and the country must allow more nuclear power projects. The national initiative to propose a "dual carbon" target is undoubtedly a timely wind for the development of nuclear power.

"Before, when we went to some places to talk about projects, the other side often showed a lot of concerns, which made it difficult to advance the work, because they still have more options such as thermal power." Now, under the pressure of the "double carbon" goal, many places, especially some economically developed provinces with large energy demand, have become more eager to cooperate with us. Because the country requires 2030 to achieve carbon peak, 2060 to achieve carbon neutrality, and the construction cycle of nuclear power plants is relatively long, from the start to the completion of about 58 months. Even if it is approved this year and construction starts next year, it will be almost 15 years before we can enjoy the role of emission reduction." China Nuclear power nuclear energy development division Jia Peng said.

China Nuclear Power is also increasing the development of new plant sites, through the implementation of "one plant, one policy" and "one province, one policy" site development strategy, and strive to do a good job of nuclear power project development and national, local and industrial development strategies deep integration.

"Site reserve is a complex work, from site selection, protection to mature development basically takes three to five years." The goal set by the leaders of the company is that we have to have the 'food' ready at all times, to make sure that whenever the country needs it, we can serve it at all times, and we can't wait for the food to be ordered before buying it, because it will be too late." Mr. Jabon said.

According to the national "14th Five-Year Plan", nuclear power in operation will reach 70 million kilowatts by 2025. In recent years, relevant domestic research groups have proposed that the development of nuclear power reach the goal of 150 million kilowatts of installed capacity in 2035. This means that six to eight new units will be built every year. At this rate, by 2030, coastal nuclear power plants will become a scarce resource, and to develop new sites, only inland can be considered. As we all know, since the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, China's inland nuclear power plant sites have been in the protection demonstration stage, when to start restart, there is no specific time.

In other countries, it is common for nuclear power to be built inland. According to data released by the World Nuclear Association (WNA), as of January 2021, 251 of the 441 nuclear power units in operation worldwide are located in the interior, accounting for 57%. In the United States, which has the largest installed nuclear power plants in the world, 85 of the 96 nuclear power units are located inland. France, which has the highest share of nuclear power generation, has 40 of its 58 nuclear power units located inland.

In the 2021 Government Work Report, it was proposed to "actively and orderly develop nuclear power under the premise of ensuring safety".

Industry insiders immediately grasped the key message - in addition to the consistent emphasis on "safety first", this is the first time in a decade that the government work report has used "positive" words to express the nuclear power development work arrangement. "Active" means actively planning the development of nuclear power and maintaining a reasonable pace of development; "Orderly" means to reverse the unbalanced and inadequate situation of nuclear energy development, rational layout, and play its role in supporting the power grid to absorb a high proportion of new energy. All these bring good "policy" opportunities for the steady start of the development of inland nuclear power.

Strengthen the "momentum" and actively expand the new

Many antennae advance in unison

The development cycle of new nuclear power projects is relatively long, China's nuclear power has long been actively exploring the multi-purpose market of nuclear energy, such as the gradual implementation of cogeneration of nuclear power units according to market demand and corresponding conditions, and has formed advanced reactors such as "Linglong No. 1" small reactor, Yanlong nuclear heating reactor, high temperature gas cooled reactor and other advanced reactors with high inherent safety and comprehensive application active and non-active design. They can be heating, cooling, seawater desalination, hydrogen production, industrial steam supply, close to towns or remote islands to arrange their own appropriate, will make a non-negligible contribution to the optimization of China's energy structure.

In the process of serving customers' personalized and customized needs of nuclear energy, China Nuclear Power has also realized that it is equally important to carry out innovative work in technology, management and business model in improving the public's acceptance of nuclear energy development, improving the national standard regulatory system for multi-purpose applications of nuclear energy, and better matching the needs of users.

However, in the view of China's nuclear power, it is not yet complete.

"The country wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, and most of the work we have done at present can only achieve carbon peak. Carbon neutrality means zero carbon emissions and carbon reduction. To achieve this goal, it is more important to develop carbon reduction technologies." Sun Huapeng said, "At present, the hot topics in this area of carbon reduction are carbon capture, carbon disposal, energy storage and so on."

Carbon capture refers to the capture of carbon dioxide from the air by some new technology and equipment; Carbon disposal is to drive it underground and store it or use it in the fossil energy extraction process to put natural oil and so on top; The technology for energy storage is even broader...

Such new scientific and technological ideas, China's nuclear power responsible for the development of agile industrial direction is also actively tracking, trying.

"The agile end industry is essentially a high-tech industry investment, in accordance with the 'heavy research and development, technology independence, relatively light assets, quickly enter the leading echelon' positioning, carefully selected technology routes and industrial investment projects, the current focus on clean energy technology investment." China nuclear power market development Department Xie Meixi said.

"The company has initially built an agile new industry investment platform, established an innovation system in this field, and conducted extensive research in the field of clean energy technology, and is currently actively promoting the landing of several key projects."

Compared with the agile industry that is still exploring, China's nuclear power has been deeply engaged in the field of non-nuclear clean energy for many years and has made real achievements. In the first three quarters of 2021, China's nuclear power announced a cumulative commercial generation of 1,363.14 KWH, an increase of 22.92%, of which wind, light and other non-nuclear clean energy generation of 7.042 billion KWH, an increase of 118.01% over the same period last year.

"During the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, the annual growth rate of new energy will remain at about 5 million kilowatts, and it is expected that the entire '14th Five-Year Plan' period will contribute 91.31 million tons of carbon dioxide to the society." Ms. Xie said.

On another dimension, China Nuclear Power has entered the carbon market in 2016, participating in the Beijing carbon market CCER(China Certified Voluntary Emission Reduction) trade of 210,000 tons of carbon dioxide.