Explores the history and challenges of nuclear energy development in China, across five main areas: politics, economics, environment, technology transfer and the nuclear fuel cycle. It emphasizes the political challenges in developing a set of long-term national strategies to ensure speedy, safe and secure nuclear energy development.

China is going nuclear. It is planning to increase its nuclear generation capacity by building two or three nuclear power plants every year for the next ten years, as one step towards meeting its rapidly rising energy demand. Will China be able to expand its nuclear capacity sufficiently and quickly enough to beat the urgent twin challenges it faces — energy security and climate change? If history is the judge, perhaps not. The Politics of Nuclear Energy in China seeks to provide an answer to this question by examining the forces in China that have shaped its nuclear energy development. It highlights the economic, technical, environmental and, most importantly, political challenges facing nuclear energy development in China.

XU YI-CHONG is Research Professor in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University, Australia. Xu has previously written on energy security and international organizations and her work includes Powering China (2002), Electricity Reform in China, India and Russia (2004), The Governance of World Trade (2004) and Inside the World Bank (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).