The race for control of the energy of the 21st century already has a provisional winner. While Europe stumbles over his own debates and United States try to rebuild an aging nuclear industry, China step on the accelerator. In April, approved the construction of ten reactors worth 200 billion yuan (24 billion euros). It is just one step in a much broader project: the return of the atom as a pillar of global power.
New conquests. China has been competing for years to lead all possible technological transitions: from renewable energy to storage, and now also nuclear. In the words of energy analyst John Kempthe country has 59 operational reactors and more than 30 under construction. No other nation has such a program. In fact, half of all the reactors being built in the world are in Chinese territory. Beyond talk about a “nuclear renaissance,” only China is turning it into state policy.
A bet on nuclear. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA)security and reliability of supply have become critical priorities for Beijing after years of expansion of electricity supply. However, the push towards nuclear has another dimension of technological independence. Under the Made in China strategy, the country sought to dominate all the links in its energy chain, and today it produces 100% of its nuclear equipment in national territory. according to China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA).
In parallel, China promotes its technology abroad. According to the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC)the export of the Hualong One reactor is a national priority, with reactors in Pakistan, projects in Argentina and expansion plans throughout Asia and Africa. Nuclear energy is both a tool for decarbonization and energy diplomacy: a way to secure supply, reduce emissions and project technological power.
The renewable paradox. China leads the global green transition, but its energy matrix still marked for coal. According to Ember data38% of the country’s electricity already comes from low-carbon sources. Even so, 62% continue to depend on fossil fuels, a proportion that reveals how far they still are from total decarbonization. Their challenge is monumental: leave coal behind without turning off the country.
That is why the atom does not replace renewable energy: it sustains them. Nuclear acts as “firm energy”, the basis that keeps the electrical system stable when there is no sun or wind. Coal continues to be the great point of friction—it guarantees supply and employment, but clashes with the ambition to be a renewable leader. In more geopolitical terms, renewable energy is a form of sovereignty. Any country can generate its own electricity. But China wants something more: full control of the electrical system.
The muscle of the atom. China is building reactors at a rate no one else can match: between ten and eleven per year. According to the IAEAthe country already has 58 operational reactors and 27 under construction, totaling more than 86 GW of capacity. Nuclear represents 4.47% of its electricity, a small but increasing share.
According to Global Energy Monitorthe operational park amounts to 58.1 GW, with forecasts of 63 GW at the end of 2025 and 71 GW in 2026, the year in which China will surpass France as the second nuclear power. Projections from the China Nuclear Energy Association foresee more than 100 GW in operation by 2030 and nearly 200 GW in 2040, double current US capacity. In 2024, nuclear investment reached an all-time high of 146.9 billion yuan.
Although its participation in the electricity mix is around 5%, the magnitude of the Chinese system converts that percentage into a volume comparable to all of France’s nuclear production.
Technological ambition. After decades of dependence on foreign designs such as the American AP1000, Beijing has developed their own models. Hualong One, a third-generation reactor, is already operating in four national units and thirteen more are under construction.
And it doesn’t stop there. China also leads the fourth generation of reactors, safer and more efficient. In 2023, the HTR-PM came into operationthe world’s first modular high-temperature reactor, in Shidao Bay: the prelude to a new stage where nuclear becomes flexible, scalable and commercially viable.
In parallel, the Xinghuo-1 project—a hybrid fusion-fission reactor— seeks to achieve a Q factor > 30enough to generate more energy than it consumes. China hopes to have it connected to the grid by 2035, which could put it decades ahead of the rest of the world in the race for commercial fusion.
Such ambition requires fuel. China has uranium reserves, but not enough for its expansion. Last year it produced just 1,700 tons, 4% of the world, and imported more than 22,000. Your solution: “fish” uranium from the sea. Researchers at the Frontiers Science Center for Rare Isotopes at Lanzhou University have developed a material called DAE-MOF, capable of absorbing uranium 40 times more efficiently than previous methods.
The goal is to have pilot plants by 2035 and large-scale production in 2050. The ocean, with its 4.5 billion tons of dissolved uranium (a thousand times more than land reserves), could ensure centuries of energy autonomy. Another step towards total independence.
Forecasts. If plans are met, China will surpass France in 2026 and the United States in 2030 in installed nuclear capacity. By 2040, its 200 GW operating will represent close to 10% of its electricity mix, according to the CNEA.
At the same time, the country will maintain its dominance in renewables: the IEA estimates that it will reach 2,460 GW of clean energy in 2030, double that of 2022. And it is not just about energy. Nuclear expansion is reshaping the economy, industry and diplomacy. China positions itself as a global supplier of civil nuclear technology for countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America: an energy diplomacy that combines technological prestige, state financing and its own safety standards. This expansion not only redefines its electrical matrix, but also its international influence: energy has become a diplomatic instrument and a brand of industrial prestige.
The century of electrons. China has not stopped burning coal, but it has not stopped building the future either. In just two decades, it has gone from being the symbol of pollution to becoming an energy laboratory most ambitious on the planet. Its solar farms spread like metallic seas; Its turbines spin where there used to be steel factories; and its reactors are multiplying at an unprecedented rate.
While Europe argues and the United States tries to resurrect its old plants, China is already pouring concrete. The country that once darkened the sky with its coal is now committed to lighting up the 21st century. In this new light, the Chinese atom not only shines: it sets the course for the global energy future.
Image | Unsplash and Shubert Science
Xataka | The amount of nuclear energy generated by each country in the world, shown in this revealing graph
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