LETTER: China sets the example with nuclear
Wind turbines and solar panels won’t supply the base load required
The debate about green energy and carbon emissions seems to be heating up along with the planet. A recent article contained a one-line comment about China’s plans mentioning the bête noire of energy production — nuclear power.
While we wax lyrical about wind turbines and solar panels we ignore the uncomfortable fact that these won’t supply the base load required, and that the answer has been looking us in the face for a long time.
China has 49 nuclear units with another 17 under construction and plans to build another 100 by 2035. These will be small modular reactors producing 125MW each. China now produces twice as much electricity as the US.
Once held up as the dirtiest emitter of greenhouse gasses, China is changing fast while the world’s democracies debate and argue about what to do while worrying that it may already be too late.
Bernard Benson
Parklands
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