August 1, 2017

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Nuclear Power Heats Up in Asia, Cools in the West

Asia aggressively builds nuclear power plants as the West withdraws

By Mark Fischetti

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Nuclear power is hot in China. The country is building 19 commercial reactors, including two of the largest ever assembled. Russia's state-owned engineering firm, Rosatom, is erecting 13 reactors in five countries. India is developing its own domestic supply chain. Meanwhile the U.S. is canceling reactors, leaving only four under construction. American maker Westinghouse, long the global front-runner, filed for bankruptcy in March. France, which for decades happily relied on atomic power, will turn to renewables to meet new electricity demand. Germany will shutter all its reactors by 2022.

If China's progress holds, it will have more nuclear capacity than the U.S., today's leader, within a decade. The government helps companies get permits and obtain financing, two big hurdles in the West. Changing markets could shift alliances as well, as countries such as the United Arab Emirates sign deals with surging Russian and South Korean suppliers rather than fading American and European firms. Japan may be Asia's anomaly: because of the infamous Fukushima accident, it has scaled back plans.

Credit: Jen Christiansen; Source: World Nuclear Association

Rights & Permissions

Mark Fischetti was a senior editor at Scientific American for nearly 20 years and covered sustainability issues, including climate, environment, energy, and more. He assigned and edited feature articles and news by journalists and scientists and also wrote in those formats. He was founding managing editor of two spin-off magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 article “Drowning New Orleans” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. Fischetti has written as a freelancer for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and many other outlets. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti has a physics degree and has twice served as Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many radio stations.

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Scientific American Magazine Vol 317 Issue 2This article was published with the title “Reactors Reshuffled” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 317 No. 2 (), p. 84
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0817-84
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