The reactors are to be built in the eastern coastal province of Shandong

Mar 3, 2014 07:56 GMT  ·  By

Late last week, the Ministry of Environmental Protection in China gave the thumbs up to plans to build two new nuclear reactors in the country's Shandong province.

Information made available to the public says that, all in all, the construction of the two brand-new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors will come with a price tag of $5.1 billion (€3.69 billion).

According to Oil Price, the purchaser is to be state-owned utility China Power Investment.

Interestingly enough, the approval of this energy project follows Greenpeace's lashing out at Japan over its plans to revive its nuclear power industry.

Thus, it was on February 27 when the organization accused Japan of endangering both public health and the environment by moving forward with plans to once again rely heavily on nuclear energy.

The way Greenpeace sees things, what this country and others must do is promote the use of renewables.

“For a good deal of the three years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster Japan has lived without any of its reactors operating.”

“There have been no blackouts, people have reduced their demand and the economy is functioning,” the organization says.

Furthermore, “The government's fixation with keeping nuclear in its proposed energy mix shows the lack of leadership of the Abe government on energy policy.”

High officials in Japan and China do not agree with the organization's views, and maintain that promoting the nuclear power industry is mandatory if air pollution is to be reduced and energy security ensured.

More precisely, the Chinese government argues that air quality in the country can be improved on by closing coal-fired power plants and having nuclear reactors replace them.

Reports say that, as of 2013, China sports 14.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity. The country hopes that, by the year 2020, it will have succeeded in upping its installed nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts.

What's more, it hopes that, given the right policies and investment plans, its nuclear power energy generation capacity will be one of 150 gigawatts by 2030.

Media reports say that, for the time being, the country has 31 nuclear reactors in the works. Should things go as planned, about 8.6 gigawatts of energy capacity will go online by the end of this year.

Although there are many who oppose nuclear power in China, the fact remains that, as pointed out by four top climate scientists back in November 2014, this energy source can actually help human society put a leash on climate change and global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“With the planet warming and carbon dioxide emissions rising faster than ever, we cannot afford to turn away from any technology,” the climate scientists wrote in a letter to campaigners and politicians.

“The time has come for those who take the threat of global warming seriously to embrace the development and deployment of safer nuclear power systems,” they further stressed.