As nuclear power makes a comeback, China is 'taking the lead' says IAEA

CGTN Europe

In an exclusive interview with CGTN, atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi lauds China's 'ambitious plans' to expand nuclear power provision.  Read more ⬇️ https://tinyurl.com/fwrf2ayn

Transcript

00:00The nuclear energy drought is over, says IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi.

00:08After years of stagnation, nuclear reactors are celebrating a comeback.

00:12We are not saying that what you are going to see is a dominance of nuclear energy.

00:18We are not saying that. I think tripling could be a bit of a challenge.

00:23Our own estimates are more aiming at doubling, perhaps.

00:27Despite these high costs and project overruns.

00:29We've had some cost overruns in Europe, one or two cases, whereas China is building in three years, four years.

00:39China is the lead in terms, numerically speaking, in terms of the increase.

00:45China has more than 50 reactors in operation and at the moment as we speak is building more than 20.

00:52China will take over, perhaps as the second and perhaps as the first, because they have very ambitious plans in this regard.

01:03This year the world's nuclear energy production is expected to reach a new record level,

01:08driven in part by the growing demand for electricity caused by the use of artificial intelligence.

01:14According to the University of California, one email written by AI

01:19uses the same amount of energy needed to power 14 light bulbs for an hour.

01:25For the first time since the advent of commercial nuclear energy in the 50s, let's say,

01:34you have a demand driven movement in nuclear.

01:39You have a sector, AI, data centers, on which we depend.

01:45These are electricity hungry facilities and most of the big players, Google, Meta, Microsoft,

01:54they are signing one after the other contracts with small modular reactor producers.

02:02Even Germany and Italy, which phased out their nuclear power plants years ago,

02:06they are now considering restarting their programs with these small modular reactors.

02:11Why choose small reactors over bigger ones? Aren't the bigger ones more efficient?

02:16Well, it depends. No, I think it's a matter of the needs and the specific situation of a country.

02:25With 300 megawatts maybe you feed a small country, almost completely.

02:30Thank you so much for this interview.

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