Is there a slowdown in the Chinese nuclear sector, as some observers have argued, ending nuclear power's "last hope for growth"? No, says François Morin, Director China of the World Nuclear Association. Nuclear has experienced a temporary setback but is still set for strong growth the coming years.  

Much speculation is made about nuclear power in China from the observation that no new construction authorizations have been delivered in 2016 and 2017. This is sometimes characterized as a "slowdown" in line with the rest of the world, giving reason to nuclear pessimists to announce the inexorable decline of nuclear power in the world. They say nuclear power has simply become too expensive, even for the state-owned enterprises in a country like China. But do the most recent facts corroborate such theory?

The National Energy Administration (NEA) issued a report on October 31 with detailed figures showing that electricity consumption, after a fall in 2015 (growth of just 0.5%) has fully recovered in 2016 and shown further growth in the first 9 months of 2017. Growth is now at 6.4%, equal to GDP growth itself.