In a report recently published in the science journal Nature, researchers studied nuclear projects in the United States, France, and China, and broke down the cost to build them and produce electricity. The report clearly demonstrated that Chinese engineers build nuclear reactors far faster, and at far lower costs than the United States, France, and Japan.
China has broken the “Cost Escalation Curse” that typifies power projects elsewhere, and its universities for nuclear engineering lead the world.
China is now exporting reactors, technology, and talent to friendly countries, while Western regulators are closing off its access to more affordable and faster Chinese tech.
The Chinese nuclear industry is building half of the plants now under construction, and exports new reactors to their closest trading partners. Over the past two decades, China has been the main country to substantially and consistently expand its nuclear fleet, to 58 operating reactors in 2024. Since 2022, the government has been approving around ten new reactors each year, putting China on track to surpass the United States and become the world’s largest holder of nuclear power capacity by 2030. State-affiliated research centres have outlined a goal of quintupling China’s current nuclear capacity by 2050.
The countries in the BRICS+ bloc, and in the countries involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, are resource-rich in uranium, and in key mining and enrichment industries for nuclear fuel.
The BRI countries now enjoy an end-to-end value chain of uranium, nuclear power plants, and energy transmission completely outside Western systems.
Read more at source documents:
Sources:
Nature, July 28, 2025 https://xueqiu.com/6667285555/346018903
Civil Engineering AI, 2025. https://www.civilengineering.ai/china-reins-in-the-spiralling-construction-costs-of-nuclear-power-what-can-other-countries-learn/
Video: Inside China Business, February 12, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovFEubwWfn8
China Environment News 