POLICIES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

Transcription

1 POLICIES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA Xu Yuanhui Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology Tsinghua University, China Abstract Along with the rapid economical development shortages in primary energy supply, especially in the supply of liquid form energy carriers, environment pollution and transport burden caused by the coal-dominant energy mix will become more and more serious. Intensified application of nuclear energy will help to ease all above mentioned problems. Present status and future program of China nuclear energy were introduced. Polices of nuclear energy development in China were described. Strategic Position of Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy will play an important role and be indispensable to be rapidly developed in China as it has clear strategic position as follows: Need for Energy Supply Since the implementation of the reforming and opening policy, the Chinese economy is as worldwide well known developing very rapidly [1]. The national economic development goal is that the GDP value is to reach 24,590 billion RMB Yuan at the middle of next century in contrast to 1,769 billion RMB Yuan in the year of To realize this, a corresponding increase in the energy supply is required. Given in Table I are projections of the increases in population, GDP value, primary energy demand and electricity demand. It can be seen that the primary energy demand will increase by a factor of 3.2~3.7 from 1990 to 2050 and the electricity demand by a factor of 7.2~7.7. It is a great challenge to meet the projected demands for electricity generation and primary energy supply. The annual increase in the installation of electricity generation capacity has been about 12~14 GW in the recent years. Total installed capacity is planned to reach 300 GW by the year 2000 and 800 GW by These would require an average increase of about 17 GW per year before 2000 and about 25 GW per year in the first two decades of next century. Nuclear power technology, which is one of the most mature power generation technologies at present, should be a most optimal solution to help meet the demands for electricity generation and primary energy supply.

2 Table I Projections of Economic Development and Energy Demand Year Population (Million) Annual GDP growth rate (%)* GDP (Billion, RMB Yuan)** Annual growth rate of energy consumption * Total demand for primary energy (MTCE) Annual growth rate of electricity demand * 4.02~ ~ ~ 6.43 Electricity demand (TWh) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * Referring to the average figure over the passed period before that year. ** Calculate with RMB at 1990 price and exchange rate in 1990 Need for Reduction of Environmental Pollution 1.18~ ~ ~ ~ Coal is the dominant primary energy [2]. In China s primary energy mix, coal accounts for a very high share, which always remains about three fourths in the past decade (Figure 1). It has not changed in recent years (Figure 2) Figure Coal share % Coal share in the primary energy resources 64

3 Coal Petro. Gas Hydro. Nucl. Figure 2 Primary energy mix Use of a great quantity of fossil fuel and coal leads to serious environmental issues, for example total amount of waste gas emission is 11.4X10 12 m 3 in 1994, among them dust emission is MT, SO 2 emission is MT and industry power dust is 5.83 Mt. About 85% of total SO 2 emission comes from coal burning. Total CO 2 emission is about 751 MT in Meanwhile the environmental quality in urban regions is affected by the environmental pollution. The concentration of atmospheric suspended corpuscles in cities is µg/m 3 in 1994, average one in northern and southern cities are 407 µg/m 3 and 250 µg/m 3, respectively. The concentration of SO 2 in cities is µg/m 3, average one in northern and southern cities are 89 µg/m 3 and 83 µg/m 3, respectively. Although some measures for reducing of total amount of waste gas emissions, such as controlled emission of industrial waste gas and development of urban gas and central heating, are taken and they make the concentration of atmospheric suspended corpuscles in cities slightly smaller (for example, average concentrations in northern and southern cities in 1995 are decreased by 3.7% and 3.2% against 1994, respectively), it will no large influence on environmental quality if the primary energy mix would not be changed. Development of nuclear energy instead of coal would be one of the best way to solve environmental issue caused by burning coal. Need for Change of Energy Supply Distribution The geographical distribution of China s coal reserve is quite uniform [2]. 90% of total coal reserve is distributed in the area of north of Qin Mountain and DaBie Mountain, among which 26.2% is distributed in Shanxi Province, 22.4% in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and 16.6% in Shanxi Province. The geographical distribution of the coal production area is similar with that of coal reserve. Coal production in each province in 1994 is listed in Figure 3. 65

4 However, industrial areas are mainly located in eastern China, or the coastal area. It causes the long-distance transportation issue (Average transportation distance for coal is about 550 km.). The total transportation weight of coal from producing provinces to consuming provinces is MT in It increased by 6.0% since 1993, but for main coal export areas it rapidly increased as shown in Table II. It means that with economic development in each province the industrial area will be only possible to import coal from few province with rich coal reserve, which would cause more transportation burden. Guizhou Liaoning Inner Mong Hebei Heilongji Shandong Sichuan Henan Shanxi Figure 3 Coal production in 1994 Coal (Mt) Table II Exported Coal Weight for Main Production Areas in 1994 Name of province Shanxi Henan Inner Mong. Heilongjing Exported coal weight MT MT MT MT Increased by (against 1993) 13.9% 30.7% 18.6% 32.8% In order to overcome transportation difficulty it would be better to develop nuclear energy at industrial areas. From an economic point of view, nuclear energy could also compete with coal and other energy resources in those areas due to its smaller transportation cost. The economic comparison was made based on the two major types of energy supply models for Shanghai area, which is a representative economically de- 66

5 veloped eastern coastal region [2]. It is supposed that coal is imported from Shanxi Province or Inner Mongolia. The result is shown in Table III [3]. In addition, in the China s primary energy consumption mix, more than half of the primary energy is consumed in the form of heat application, of which district heating takes a significant part. Therefore, it is of great significance if nuclear reactors are developed for this purpose as the heating energy is not suitable for long distance transmission as well as district heating is normally distributed in down town areas, which will be more affected by burning coal. For example a 200 MW nuclear heating reactor can meet the demand of 5 million square meter heating area. This will substitute for 0.25 million tons of coal per year, which saves correspondingly the large amount of emission of pollutants from burning coal. Quantitatively it will also save the coal transportation of 140 million ton kilometers. Table III Discounted costs for generating electricity (cents/kwh, 1990 prices) Coal Nuclear Coal Nuclear Discount rate d=5% d=10% Cost of generating electricity Capital recovery cost Fuel cost O&M cost Total Transmission cost Selling cost Need for Mitigation of Liquid Fuel Shortage With the national economic development the demand of liquid fuel will rapidly increase [2], however oil production in past decade developed fairly slowly at the growth rate 1.47 %/year as shown in Figure 4, which corresponded to the increase from MT in 1986 to MT in 1995 due to oil reserve limit. It is expected that oil production will reach its peak around 2030, the highest oil production will be 250~300 MT/year. After that oil production will decrease to about 200 MT/year. On account of the situation of China s oil resources, even if such measures are taken as orienting the development of traffic tools and restricting the use of liquid fuel for power generation and heating, the demand for liquid fuel by the year of 2050 is estimated to be more than 16% of the total energy demand, or 400~460 million tons of oil per year. Based on the prediction of the inland production capacity of liquid fuel, the gap between supply and demand will be greater than 200 million tons of oil. Since this gap can hardly be filled by other forms of energy source, the liquid fuel shortage will become more and more serious in China as economy grows. 67

6 Oil production (Mt) Figure 4 Oil production in The possible way to solve liquid fuel shortage is to use coal as raw material to synthesize liquid fuel. Coal consumption will be doubled if coal is used for both raw material and process heat as conventional measure (about half for raw material and other for burning fuel). It will result in more difficulty of coal transportation and environmental pollution. It is clear that use of nuclear energy - coal conversion system to synthesize liquid fuel (gasification or liquidification) is the best way to overcome liquid fuel shortage from a viewpoint of both environmental protection and efficiency improvement. In the framework of the general energy substitution strategy as mentioned above, the nuclear energy can play its special roles which are summarized follows: Development of nuclear power in energy shortage areas can increase electricity supply, and reduce the heavy burden of coal transportation on the rail way system very effectively. Nuclear energy also has economic competitiveness in coastal areas. To provide large cities and industrial centers with nuclear heating can mitigate local environmental pollution very effectively. It is also particularly of significance in China, because China has no enough oil and gas fuel to provide industrial process heating and space heating, as it does in industrialized countries. To provide high temperature nuclear heat for nuclear energy-coal conversion, producing liquid fuel, can alleviate shortage of liquid fuel supply with bright perspective. 68

7 Present Status of Nuclear Energy There are currently two commercial nuclear power plants in operation with a total capacity of 2100 MW. The nuclear share on the electricity generation market at present in China is extremely small. The Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (QNPP), a 300 MW PWR, which is designed, constructed, and operated by Chinese industries, is the first nuclear power plant which was successfully connected to the grid on Dec. 15, The load factor reached 66% in It was put into commercial operation on April 1, The load factor is expected to be no less than 70%. The inspection shows that the plant design and fabrication of main components and nuclear fuel assemblies are satisfactory and reliable. The radioactivity release to the environment is far below the dose limit specified by the state, without increasing the background level on the site. The Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant (DBNPP, two 900 MW PWRs) in southern China was constructed in cooperation with Framatome of France and GE of Britain. The first unit was put into commercial operation on Feb. 1, 1994 and the second unit went into commercial operation on May 6, The average load factor of the two units was up to 83.6%. The DBNPP was awarded the US McGraw-Hill 1994 NPP Prize. Meanwhile the research and development program on advanced reactor for the next generation or non-electricity use is being successfully carried out. The 5 MW nuclear heating reactor (5 MW-NHR) was put into operation at the site of Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology (INET) in 1989 and was operated for six winter seasons with almost full load factor. The 10 MW High Temperature Reactor-Test Model (HTR-10) is under construction at INET and is expected to be critical in Future of Nuclear Energy Based on the nuclear power program the target by 2010 is that nuclear power plants with total power capacity of 20 GW will be constructed and put into operation. Up to now two nuclear power plants with the power capacity of 2.1 GW has been put into operation, four nuclear power plants with the power capacity of ~6.6 GW are planed to be constructed and the other have not yet decided. The nuclear power plants planed to be constructed are the Qinshan NPP No. 2 with the power capacity of 2 X 680 MW, the Qinshan NNP No. 3 with the power capacity of 2 X 728 MW, the Daya Bay NNP No. 2 with the power capacity of 2 X 984 MW and the Lianyungang NNP with the power capacity of 2 X 1000 MW. The Qinshan NPP No. 2 is designed and constructed as well as will be operated by Chinese industries as the Qinshan NNP was done. It is of the PWR type with two loops. The first tank of concrete for Unit 1 was poured on June 2, It is planed to be critical in 2001, and Unit 2 will be followed in one year. The Qinshan NPP No. 3 is a joint construction project with Canada. The CANDU-6 type was chosen for this NNP. The agreement between the Governments of 69

8 the People s Republic of China and Canada for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy was signed in December of The minutes of the meeting on joint construction of the heavy water reactor NPP was signed between CNNC and AECL. The State Planning Commission has approved the feasibility study of this project. The government of Canada will provide favorable loan for exporting two unites of CANDU-6. The Daya Bay NNP No. 2 will be constructed at Lingao, 1 km far away from the north-east of Daya Bay. It is a similar project with the Daya Bay NNP, that is a joint construction with Framatone and GEC-Alsthom. The equipment supply and the engineering construction contracts were signed between both sides, and the loan agreement for the project was signed between State Development Bank of China and BNP of France and West Merchant Bank in October, The initial on-the-spot work was started in The basic design has been approved. It is expected to be critical in The Lianyungang NNP will be constructed at Lianyungang, Shandong Province. It is a joint construction project with Russia. The VEER-1000 PWR was used for this NNP. It was planed to be constructed at Wentuozi near Wafangdian of Liaoning Province. Due to financing issues the site is moved to Lianyungang. The Sino-Russian agreement on joint construction of the NNP was signed at the end of The preparatory work of technical negotiations related has been carried out. The contract and agreement on the equipment supply is being negotiated. As the site changed, the feasibility study is being carried out. There are many cities or provinces intending to construct NNPs by 2010, but most possible provinces would be Jiangsn, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. A prototype nuclear heating reactor with thermal power rate of 200 MW for only house heating is planned to be constructed at the site of Daqing oil field, Heilongjiang Province of northeastern China. Its Construction Permission License (CP) was issued by the National Nuclear Safety Administration in December, 1996 and its first tank of concrete will be poured in coming May. It is expected to be critical in four years. After its successful operation this kind of nuclear heating reactors will be built at many cities as more than 20 cities intend to build nuclear heating reactors now. Policies of Nuclear Energy Development The development scale of nuclear energy in China will be very large as mentioned above. The development of nuclear energy is unimaginable without the localization of nuclear energy. The sign of fulfilling the localization is that: the procedures in examination and approval must follow the development requirements in the world. Because nuclear energy is the no-national-boundary science, the development in one country will affect the others. The secondary is to cultivate the qualified personnel in the aspects of nuclear engineering design, project management, civil construction, installation and operation. The last and most important is the localization of components 70

9 manufacturing [4]. That means that the localization would be fully realized if self-initiation in four aspects, that is, self-initiation design, self-initiation construction, selfinitiation components manufacturing and self-initiation operation, could be implemented. To fulfill the objective of localization, the following policies and guidelines on localization have been enacted in China. According to the condition in our country, use the current matured experiences and effective methods in the world to enact the overall strict procedures in examination and approval as many as possible. For the manufacturing of components the matured technologies and the component manufacturing experiences in the world should be fully used; it is also necessary to properly import know-how as well as strive to master the technologies gradually by the combination of technology and trade. Training qualified talents by different ways, for example studying in universities or colleges, assigning talents abroad to study, on-the-job training and so on, in order to realize localization in the aspect of design, project management and operation. The components-localization also has remarkable influence on the investment of the nuclear power station. The effect of the localization on direct investment is shown in Table IV [4]. Table IV Effect of Localization on Investment Domestic percent ( NI ) % Domestic percent ( BOP ) % Reduction of investment * * Not including fuel elements cost From a viewpoint of nuclear fuel cycle, the pressurized water reactor was and will still be regarded as the priority reactor type for nuclear power plants for only electricity generation. Meanwhile, an advanced reactor meeting the utility requirement document (URD) will follow as next generation reactors. Three kinds of PWR types are taken as references for large size nuclear power plants: Framatom s M310, Westinghouse s APWR and ABB-CE s 80 series. Westinghouse s AP600 and GE s ABWR are also taken into consideration for next generation nuclear power plants. With regards to the size of the nuclear island the power rate of 600 MW e was chosen as basic design load for one unit. Taking into consideration of the present capacity of the electricity net in China (14 electricity nets with the power capacity of greater than 10 GW, among which four electricity nets have the power capacity of greater than 25 GW), and difficulty of the site selection in the industrial and coastal areas, the power capacity of the order of 1000 MW e will be regarded as basic design load for one unit, but the power capacity of 300 MW e for each loop was and will be regarded as basic design feature. Final decision will 71

10 be made after careful technical and economic comparison and feasibility study on the manufacturing of components. In addition, district heating reactors will be further developed not only for heat supply but also for other use, especially for sea water desalinization. The research on the high temperature process heat application will be continued. Conclusion Along with the rapid economical development shortages in primary energy supply, especially in the supply of liquid form energy carriers, environment pollution and transport burden caused by the coal-dominant energy mix will become more and more serious. Intensified application of nuclear energy will help to ease all above mentioned problems. The development scale of nuclear energy in China will be very large. The development of nuclear energy is unimaginable without the localization of nuclear energy. The localization would be fully realized if self-initiation at four aspects, that is self-initiation design, self-initiation construction, self-initiation components manufacture and self-initiation operation, could be implemented. The pressurized water reactor was and will still be regarded as the priority reactor type for nuclear power plants for only electricity generation. Meanwhile, an advanced reactor meeting the utility requirement document (URD) will follow as next generation reactors. In addition district heating reactors will be further developed not only for heat supply but also for other use, especially for sea water desalinization. The research on the high temperature process heat application will be continued. Reference 1. Wang and Y. Lu, Chinese Journal of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Vol. 13, No. 4, P2-7, Annular Review on China Energy Resource in 1996, in Chinese. 3. Wu and H. Wen, Journal of Tsinghua University, Vol. 34, No. ES2, P5-9, Xu and K. Zuo, Education, Technology Transfer, Industrial Preconditions for the Introduction of Nuclear Reactors to the Market, Presented at HTR-Workshop organized by the GTDC, Vienna, Austria, July 13-14,