Published on July 13, 2019.
Based on an essay by Toyohito Matsuoka in the monthly magazine WiLL, this article examines China’s nuclear power policy, human-resource development, and nuclear export strategy.
While Japan faces a crisis in nuclear expertise and technological succession, China is mobilizing universities, research institutes, and state-owned enterprises, backed politically and financially by the Belt and Road Initiative, to steadily advance its ambition to dominate the global nuclear power market.

July 13, 2019.
With the political and financial backing of the Belt and Road Initiative, the broad economic-zone concept advocated by President Xi Jinping, China has also secured an advantageous position in the field of overseas exports.
The following is a continuation of the essay by Toyohito Matsuoka, Director of the First Research Department of the Japan Electric Power Information Center, published in this month’s issue of the monthly magazine WiLL under the title “China’s Ambition to Dominate the World Through Nuclear Power.”
Readers who have made it this far should feel, even with anger, that it is no exaggeration to say that the anti-nuclear and anti-reactor-restart reporting by the Asahi Shimbun and NHK also served China’s interests, and that it is no exaggeration to call it treasonous, nation-betraying reporting.
The opposition-party politicians, scholars, so-called cultural figures, so-called human-rights lawyers, and so-called citizens’ groups who aligned themselves with them and carried out anti-nuclear and anti-reactor-restart movements are, in reality, no different from Chinese agents seeking to dominate the world through nuclear power.
Human-Resource Development on an Entirely Different Scale.
In Japan, there are said to be three university departments whose names include “nuclear energy,” and nine graduate-school majors, with about 750 students enrolled.
In China, in response to the rapid increase in new projects, human-resource development is proceeding at a rapid pace.
There are 44 universities with nuclear-related departments, and according to a report by the China Nuclear Energy Association, about 10,000 students are enrolled.
Including research institutes, about 3,000 people are sent into the nuclear industry every year.
Nuclear power operators are actively working to train plant operators, developing training simulators, and in the central control rooms of major power plants, one can see many operator candidates for power plants under construction being received for on-site resident training.
To introduce examples of famous engineering universities, at Tsinghua University, the top technical university, the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, or INET, was established in 1960, and has 500 faculty members and more than 200 graduate students.
INET is also responsible for research and development of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.
With funding from CNNC, Tsinghua University provides a nuclear technology education program for 60 students each year and an international exchange program for 30 students each year, and places those who complete the programs at CNNC.
At Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a nuclear engineering division was established in 1958, and in 2006, the School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, or SNSE, was established.
The school has 50 faculty members, 150 undergraduate students, 60 master’s-course students, and 50 doctoral-course students.
The university is participating in SNPTC’s CAP1400 research.
At Harbin Engineering University, a nuclear engineering division was established in 1958, and in 2005, the College of Nuclear Science and Technology was established.
It has 113 faculty members, 1,063 undergraduate students, 235 master’s-course students, and 62 doctoral-course students.
The reality is that, in contrast to Japan, where the depletion of nuclear human resources and the interruption of technological succession are matters of concern, China is undertaking human-resource development on an entirely different scale as a national effort.
China’s nuclear operators are not private electric power companies.
They are integrated enterprises that consistently handle power generation, reactor research and development, design, and construction, and with the political and financial backing of the Belt and Road Initiative, the broad economic-zone concept advocated by President Xi Jinping, they have also secured an advantageous position in the field of overseas exports.
China is already constructing the Hualong One reactor in Pakistan, and is also advancing its introduction in the United Kingdom and Argentina.
Furthermore, China has concluded nuclear agreements with many countries, including African nations, and is steadily laying the groundwork for future nuclear power plant exports.
In addition to the development and construction of third-generation reactors such as the AP1000, the development and construction of next-generation reactors, including high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, fast reactors, and small modular reactors, are also being advanced, and China is already beginning to stand at the top of the world in nuclear technology development.
On the other hand, five new reactors began operation in 2014, eight in 2015, and another five in 2016.
Because the number of operating nuclear power plants is increasing at an extremely rapid pace, the shortage of veteran operators has become an important issue.
Furthermore, there are also safety-related discussions, such as water contamination in the event of an accident, and it is necessary to recognize the reality that siting in inland areas is not progressing.