China is mass producing nuclear reactors, and exporting them to friendly countries
by Inside China Business [2-11-2026].
Chinese engineers build nuclear reactors far faster, and at far lower costs than the United States, France, and Japan.
The Chinese nuclear industry is building half of the plants now under construction, and exports new reactors to their closest trading partners.
The countries in the BRICS+ bloc, and in the countries involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative, are resource-rich in uranium, and in key mining and enrichment industries for nuclear fuel.
The BRI countries now enjoy an end-to-end value chain of uranium, nuclear power plants, and energy transmission completely outside Western systems.
Closing scene, Dali University, Yunnan
Resources
‘Cost curse’: China’s $2 per watt nuclear plants highlight US, France woes [7-29-2026] The study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Harvard, CUNY, and Stony Brook University says that the average costs today for a new nuclear plant in the US can be as high as $15/watt. The French plants cost a lot less – approximately $4 per watt, but it is still high when compared to the highly standardized Chinese-designed plants, the costs of which are about $2 per watt.
China's Hualong One nuclear reactor enters batch-scale expansion [2-1-2026] China's domestically developed third-generation nuclear technology, Hualong One, is entering a new stage of accelerated, batch-scale construction across the country, China Media Group reports. With 41 reactors now in operation or under construction, Hualong One has become the world's most widely deployed single reactor design.
China reins in the spiralling construction costs of nuclear power — what can other countries learn? [7-28-2025]
The uranium fuel supplies are highly concentrated [7-22-2024] The nuclear fuel cycle consists of two phases: the front end which prepares uranium for use in reactors and the back end which ensures that used—or spent—but still highly radioactive, nuclear fuel is safely managed and disposed of. There are high levels of concentration in each phase of the nuclear fuel cycle.
China: World’s most widely deployed nuclear reactor enters batch-scale builds [2-2-2026] China’s third-generation nuclear reactor, Hualong One, is entering a new phase of faster, batch-scale construction across the country, according to a CGTN report. With 41 reactors in operation or under construction in China, Hualong One is already the world’s most widely deployed single reactor design, according to the report. Now, China wants to build on that progress as it pushes for peak carbon emissions before 2030.
US Nuclear Fuel Cycle [11-20-2024] The USA has nuclear fuel production capacity insufficient for domestic needs. Currently, almost all the uranium used in US commercial reactors is imported.
The Hualong One: China's solution for the global clean energy sector [5-12-2025] The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the commencement of the construction of the world's first Hualong One project. As China's independently developed third-generation nuclear technology, the Hualong One sets a benchmark with a 68.7-month construction period for its first unit, making it the only third-generation nuclear project delivered on schedule in the world. The demonstration project has won the National Quality Engineering Award, with its two units scoring a perfect 100 in the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) evaluation. Together, they have generated nearly 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and are approaching 1,000 days of safe and stable operation.