Summary of2023 Report on Chinese Nuclear
Power Generation and Costs
Analysis

April, 2024

Prepared by GreenPrizm
Tian Lan
Jinyang Zhu
Xiaofeng Ji
Kyle Kung

Summary1
This document summarizes a report reflecting information gathered from Chinese domestic and internationalsources on nuclear power plants and its associated development costs. Spanning 207 references from public
sources, 123 are in the Chinese language. The analysis is current as of December 31st, 2023.

Summary Table

Reactor
Generation

Average
Capital Cost(CNY/KW)

Average

Proportion

Average

Average

Average

Reactors

Reactors

CapitalRelated toConstructio

OperatingOperatinginunderCostfinancingn Duration

Cost

Cost

Operation

Construction(USD/KW)(%)(months)(CNY/KWh)(USD/KWh)(number)(number)

Reactors

Date of First

Approved

Reactor(number)

Deployment

Date of Most
RecentReactor
Deployment

Gen 2

13,129

1,972

21%

68

0.22

0.031

41002/1/1994

6/2/2021

Gen 3

17,5992,561

16%760.305

0.043

1324

12

12/13/2018

3/25/2023

Gen 4

43,748

6,683

29%

131

Not available

Not available

12012/6/2023

12/6/2023

As of year-end 2023, China’s nuclear power generation capacity consists of 55 operational nuclear reactors. In addition,
26 nuclear reactors are under active construction, and 12 nuclear reactors have received State Council approval tobegin construction. The 55 nuclear reactors in operation provide 56.9 gigawatts (GW) of gross capacity with 52.9 GW
expected net capacity. Expected total investment in nuclear power generation at the end of 2023 across operational,
under construction, and approved Chinese nuclear power units is approximately CNY 1.6 trillion (USD 225 billion) across
100 GW of gross capacity yielding a unit reactor cost of 15,873 CNY/KW (Chinese Yuan/Kilowatt) or 2,341 USD/KW
reflecting annual currency variations across the construction period.2 Overnight construction costs accounts for 82% of
total expected costs with the remaining 18% allocated to financing costs. We gathered data on the total construction
costs for nuclear projects in China and compiled interest rates for financing during the construction period. Using thisinformation, we computed both the financing costs and the overnight construction costs for each nuclear reactor.
Across operational nuclear reactors, we calculate total costs of CNY 841 billion yielding 56.9 GW gross capacity, withunit cost 14,755 CNY/KW (2,230 USD/KW accounting for annual currency variations across the construction period),
overnight construction costs and financing costs of 79% and 21%, respectively. These costs cover all up-front capitalcosts to build a nuclear power plant.
For the 55 operating nuclear power reactors, average construction duration was 74 months with the shortest at 51

This document summarizes a detailed report with supporting data that are available by contacting the Anthropocene
Institute who sponsored this research. Please request the full report at https://anthropoceneinstitute.com/contact/.

12CNY/USD exchange rate at the end of 2023 was 7.10.

2023 Report on Chinese Nuclear Power Generation and Costs Analysis

1months and longest at 131 months. Increased construction duration can be explained by adoption of new technology as
second-generation nuclear power units required the shortest duration followed by the third and fourth generation,
respectively. Increased construction duration also increases financing costs as a component of total construction cost.
For the 24 reactors currently under construction, total investment amounts to CNY 514.1 billion. These projects will add
28.8 GW to overall power generating capacity, with a higher average unit cost of 18,283 CNY/KW. The cost of financing
constitutes 14% of total investment. Expected construction duration for projects under construction is slightly shorter,averaging 71 months. This duration figure combines average estimates from operational reactor construction times andmedia reports of new projects. While the number of actual nuclear reactors under construction is 26, subsequent
analysis excludes Xiapu 1 and 2 fourth-generation sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactors as public information on
relevant finances are limited.
In 2023, 12 new nuclear power projects were approved by the Chinese State Council, requiring a total expected
investment of CNY 237.45 billion. These approved projects expect to provide a cumulative gross capacity of 14.68 GW,
with an average unit cost of 16,177 CNY/KW. The above analysis is summarized below in Table 1 showing all reported
reactors across construction status.
Table 1
Metrics on All Reactors Across Construction Status

StatusReactor
Count

Total Cost (billionCNY)

Total Cost (billionUSD)

Total
Gross
Capacity(MW)Average
Unit Cost(CNY/KW)

Average
Unit Cost(USD/KW)

Average Costof Financing
to Overall
Investment

Average
Construction
Duration (inmonth)Approved

12237.4533.44

14,682

16,177

2,279

13.9%

74

Operational

55

840.81

127.4256,93014,755

2,230

21.2%

74

Under
Construction

24

514.11

73.81

28,83018,283

2,626

13.8%

71

Grand Total

91

1,592.37

234.67

100,442

15,873

2,341

18.3%

73

Analysis across geographic locations and power plant sites
Chinese nuclear power plants are located across 8 different eastern provinces surrounding large, high electricity
demand industrial and population centers with Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian hosting 35 of 55 operational reactors.
Inland provinces that are highly populated like Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi are currently under discussion but are notprioritized nor approved by the State Council (entity empowered to grant final approval). Other locations like Sichuanprovince face frequent earthquakes (a magnitude-8.0 earthquake in 2008) and the Bohai Sea, the nearest sea toBeijing, is a shallow, semi-enclosed inland body of water with limited self-cleaning capabilities making it similar toinland areas. In the event of a nuclear accident, the repercussions would extend to one of China's most densely

2023 Report on Chinese Nuclear Power Generation and Costs Analysis

2populated areas, home to over 100 million people3. Nevertheless, given the high demand for electricity in the Beijing
region, the construction of nuclear power plants is continually underway. Currently, the operational nuclear power site,
Hongyanhe, is located at the far end of the Bohai Sea. Additionally, two nuclear reactors in Xudapu, which are closer tothe inland area, are currently under construction. Another potential nuclear power project is in Haixing, Hubei
province, approximately 200 km from Beijing. This project aims to house six reactors with a total capacity of 7.2 GW
and is expected to receive approval from the State Council in the near future. Newly approved and under-construction
reactors are still located exclusively within these 8 provinces growing around population centers and provinces ofShandong, Liaoning, and Hainan which expect a significant increase in reactors, from 11 to 24, and gross capacity, from10.7 GW to 26.2 GW. In Figure 1, we present for each of the 8 provinces, the number of reactors, total costs in CNY andUSD, gross capacity, and average unit cost.

3

Source: http://paper.people.com.cn/zgjjzk/html/2018-11/05/content_1892254.htm

2023 Report on Chinese Nuclear Power Generation and Costs Analysis

3Figure 1

2023 Report on Chinese Nuclear Power Generation and Costs Analysis

4References
In this research report, data and information are referenced from materials collected on the public Internet, and thesereferences are archived. There are a total of 203 archived reference sources, including:•78 reference sources come from the IAEA website, which lists the basic information of nuclear power reactors inoperation and under construction in China as of December 31, 2023 (such as reactor name, location, model, grosscapacity, construction date, commercial date, etc.).

•42 reference sources come from the annual reports of the 4 companies qualified to operate nuclear power plants
in China. Currently, only CCNP, CGN, SPIG and CHNG are qualified to operate nuclear power plants in China. CCNP
began publishing annual reports in 2011 and the other 3 companies began in 2013. Annual reports of these 4companies up to 2022 were collected along with the nuclear power reactor budgets included in the annual reportsof each company during this time. A total of 46 nuclear power reactors budgets for at least 1 year and at most 8years were obtained.

•83 reference sources come from multiple scattered data sources, including authoritative official releases data,
media news reports, academic reports, securities research reports. This part of the data source helped to improve
the list and information of nuclear power reactors (such as including information on nuclear power reactors thathave been approved by the State Council but have not yet started construction), supplemented the nuclear powerreactors construction budget not listed in the annual report, supplemented the breakdown data of construction
cost and power ongoing charge cost, and also helped to complete the definitions of Gen 1 to Gen 4 nuclear powerreactor and the definitions of various reactor models implemented in China. In addition, this part of the reference
sources also includes some basic information that were used for conversion, such as CNY-USD exchange rate andChina CPI inflation that released by the People's Bank of China and the World Bank.

2023 Report on Chinese Nuclear Power Generation and Costs Analysis

5