(Yicai Global) March 8 -- The chairman of China National Nuclear Power has suggested at the Two Sessions, China’s annual policy setting meetings, that to cut its carbon emissions the country’s energy-intensive petrochemcial industry should use fourth-generation nuclear power reactors.

“Using nuclear power to provide heating, automobile energy, and electricity is the best way for the petrochemical industry to seek a clean energy and low-carbon transition,” Lu Tiezhong said in his proposal to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference yesterday, Shanghai Securities News reported.

China should optimize the policies and approval process for high-temperature gas-cooled reactor projects, which can produce industrial steam, hydrogen, and electricity in one solution, and lay out plans for the multipurpose use of nuclear energy from HTGRs to speed up their implementation and promotion in energy-intensive sectors such as petrochemicals and steel, Lu said.

Moreover, Chinese provinces that focus on the development of wind and solar energy should promote nuclear power as local baseload plants to support the transmission and use of electricity generated by renewable sources, Lu noted.

The HTGRs jointly developed by CNNP, China Huaneng Group, and Tsinghua University for the Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Plant are a safer fourth-generation nuclear power technology. The plant became the world's first commercial fourth-gen atomic power system when it connected to the grid in December 2021. It has an installed capacity of 200 megawatts.

Editor: Futura Costaglione