In the great era of green electricity infrastructure, nuclear power will take off again

In 2022, the overall supply and demand of electricity in the country is tight and balanced, and the supply and demand of electricity during peak hours in some regions is tight. In February, there were many large-scale rain and snow weather processes across the country, and the balance of power supply and demand was tight in a few provinces during some peak hours of electricity consumption. In July and August, the extreme high temperature and low rain weather that lasted the longest and affected the most widely in recent decades appeared in China, superimposed economic recovery growth and pulled the rapid growth of electricity load. There are 21 provincial-level power grid load record high, East and central China's power supply situation is grim, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei and other regions of the power supply and demand situation is tight. In December, a few provinces, such as Guizhou and Yunnan, were affected by factors such as the continuous decline of hydropower storage due to the partial depletion of water in the previous period, and the heating load increased rapidly during the cold wave weather, and the power supply and demand situation was relatively tight. In the future, China is expected to form a pattern of nuclear power as the base and thermal power peak regulation. In 2022, the power generation of China's nuclear power units will account for about 4.98% of the total power generation, which is still lower than the international average. According to the China Nuclear Energy Industry Association, in 2035 and 2060, the proportion of nuclear power generation in China's electricity structure needs to reach about 10% and 20%, respectively, which is comparable to the current average level of OECD countries.

The number of hours used in nuclear power ranks first. Nuclear power plants can run continuously for at least 12 months after one loading, and are not affected by external factors such as fuel supply and weather during operation, and the output power is stable, which is an ideal choice for the base load of the grid. Since 2014, affected by the decline in power demand, nuclear power has also been required to participate in peak adjustment or power reduction operation, and the utilization hours began to decrease year by year, and began to rise in 2021. In 2022, the average utilization hours of nuclear power in the country reached 7616 hours, ranking first among various power generation methods, and the average utilization rate can reach 81%.

2.4 The active and orderly development of nuclear power has become the main theme

The speed of nuclear power development is obviously influenced by policy. During the period from the Eighth Five-Year Plan to the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the national level advocated appropriate and moderate development of nuclear power; Starting from the "11th Five-Year Plan", the plan has made it clear that the construction of nuclear power will be actively promoted, and the focus is on the construction of million kW nuclear power plants. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" to "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the plan clearly defined the safe and efficient development of nuclear power, and highlighted the focus of nuclear power construction on the eastern coast, during which the nuclear power industry entered a stage of rapid development.