CRI听力:US energy experts notes China's progress in nuclear energy

John Hofmeister, founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, suggests the world should be looking toward China when developing energy development plans.

"When it comes to energy, there is no nation on earth that has an energy plan that is homogenous, that is ubiquitous, that is forward-looking, that builds upon the past, that has the imagination of the future, that has the governance to make it possible and to make it happen, as China has."

The comments follow the release of an annual energy report by the China Energy Fund Committee.

The report outlines the latest developments and goals in China's nuclear energy sector.

Its Energy Development Strategic Action Plan suggests nuclear power production in China will be hit close to 60 Gigawatts by 2020.

At the same time, the amount of nuclear power production currently under construction will see that figure later increase by over 50-percent.

China has been one of the countries leading a renewed charge in nuclear energy production following the 2013 Fukushima meltdown in Japan, which sent nuclear power production plummeting.

Professor Huang Xiaoyong, head of the International Energy Security Research Center with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says resurgence in nuclear power development will also provide an opportunity for China's nuclear power producers.

"As the world warms up again to nuclear power, competition is growing in the industry. The active players are not limited to nuclear power veterans such as France, Japan and the USA, but late arrivals such as China and South Korea are also trying to grab market share."

A Chinese nuclear power plant producer has already inked a deal with a French firm to build a nuclear power plant in the UK.

Other international deals are also said to be in the pipeline at the moment, particularly in Africa.
Professor Huang Xiaoyong says more nuclear power plants are also expected to be popping up more and more in China in the coming years.

"In 2015 China publicized its goal in cutting emissions, pledging to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, if not earlier. By then, China expects to lower its emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65%. To achieve that challenging goal requires further improvement of China's energy structure, and that includes the promotion of clean energy such as nuclear energy."

The Chinese government has been pushing to eliminate coal-fired, heavily-polluting energy production plants in recent years.

Coal-fired power plants are one of the chief culprits behind China's notorious air pollution problems.