China moves forward - gradually

China has taken more than 30 years to develop its nuclear industry, which is now able to carry out uranium ore processing, uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication and reprocessing. Work on waste conditioning and disposal is proceeding. China has uranium resources for about 30 years, sufficient to cover the present planned programme, based on PWRs, of 15 000We. Further exploration in this vast country is expected to reveal more uranium reserves. However, additional capacity for enriching uranium and fabricating fuel will be required. No final decision has yet been taken on whether to follow the reprocessing route or a once-through fuel strategy. However, to use uranium resources effectively, current plans envisage that the second generation of nuclear plants will be fast reactors. This will mean that spent fuel from PWRs will be reprocessed. Since the late 1960s, researchers have worked on most of the treatment and disposal technologies used for low and intermediate level wastes, and the technology for vitrifying high level waste is being developed. (author)