Odd Lots: This is how China builds so much nuclear power

Zero: The Climate Race

Bloomberg

Technology, Business, Science

4.7 • 219 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the US right now, there is a lot of talk about a so-called "nuclear revival," though it remains to be seen whether that translates into action. Meanwhile, China has built 37 nuclear reactors in the last decade, with even more in the works. So what does it take to build nuclear at scale? On this episode of the Odd Lots podcast, Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway speak to David Fishman, a China-based energy analyst at The Lantau Group. He explains all the elements of the country's nuclear success, from financing to manufacturing to its domestic power markets.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Akshad.
0:02.0	Bloomberg's Oddlots podcast recently did a great episode about the rise of nuclear power in China.
0:07.7	It's the only country deploying nuclear at a large scale right now,
0:12.1	and I thought you would enjoy listening to it.
0:15.0	So here's the extra episode.
0:16.9	We'll be back with a new episode of Zero on Thursday.
0:22.9	Bloomberg Audio Studios.
0:25.2	Podcasts, Radio, News.
0:43.5	Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots podcast.
0:44.7	I'm Joe Wisenthall.
0:45.9	And I'm Tracy Allaway.
0:50.5	Tracy, you know, we've been talking a lot about the U.S. energy system for obvious reasons.
0:53.4	At least when it comes to electricity, I don't know about you.
0:54.3	I kind of feel like the more we talk about it, the less I understand it. Yes, yes, absolutely. I think there are a couple
0:59.5	problems here. So, like, even beyond the actual different technologies for generating power,
1:04.7	there's the patchwork of, like, how different grids work in different states, there's the different
1:10.7	regulations, the different regulations,
1:11.8	the different like interoperability and all of that. And then even if we look like beyond the
1:18.1	U.S., it gets, I guess, even more different. Yes. Well, I sort of wonder, maybe we can learn
1:23.5	something about the U.S. by a little compare and contrast, right? So if we look at the U.S.
1:28.2	and we still don't totally get how it works, maybe, I don't know, just a thought, maybe we'll
1:33.8	learn something about the U.S. by looking at some different system, and then we have something
	...

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