China Makes Huge Nuclear Leap in World First for Clean En...

By Sam StevensonShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

China has launched the world's first commercial supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power generator, an innovative clean-energy breakthrough developed by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

A pioneering power generator that uses carbon dioxide instead of steam to transfer heat has been hooked up to the grid at a steel plant in Guizhou, southwestern China. The system converts waste heat into electricity, according to a November 10 post by CNNC's Nuclear Power Institute of China, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Why It Matters

China's rapid advances in nuclear technology signal a potentially transformative shift in the global energy landscape.

With game-changing developments such as the world's first commercial sCO2 power generator and successful thorium-to-uranium breeding in a molten salt reactor, China is positioning itself to address both domestic environmental concerns and global challenges in clean energy supply, energy security and technology leadership.

These innovations could reshape nuclear power's safety profile and cost structure, with implications for U.S. energy policy, international competition and future global decarbonization efforts.

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What To Know

The CNNC has announced that it has connected an sCO2 waste heat power generator to the grid at the Shougang Shuicheng Steel plant in Liupanshui, Guizhou province.

Unlike conventional turbines that use water-based steam, the new generator uses carbon dioxide in a supercritical fluid state to capture waste heat from steel production and convert it directly into electricity.

Supercritical carbon dioxide power generation uses CO₂ at pressures and temperatures where it behaves like both a gas and a liquid.

Each of the two 15-megawatt units is expected to be 50 percent more efficient than existing steam technology, presenting major potential for wider industrial and power plant applications.

It represents a major step forward for nuclear and advanced energy tech, with high-efficiency, compact systems poised to power mobile reactors and solar plants.

Because sCO2 is denser than steam, turbines and other components can be made smaller without sacrificing power output. That makes the technology attractive for confined environments, such as ships and spacecraft, according to the Institute of Mechanics.

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A similar project, led by GTI Energy and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is testing sCO2 at the $169 million, 10-megawatt electrical Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant in San Antonio.

The STEP project completed the first testing phase in September 2024, GTI Energy said.

China's latest technological achievement follows the Chinese Academy of Sciences' confirmation earlier in November that its experimental thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR) in the Gobi Desert had successfully converted thorium into uranium fuel. It marked the first-ever sustained thorium-to-uranium fuel cycle in a working nuclear reactor. Thorium is more abundant than uranium and, when used in molten salt reactors, offers potential for safer, more efficient and lower-waste nuclear power.

According to Li Qingnuan, a Communist Party secretary and deputy director at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' 2-megawatt TMSR has generated heat through nuclear fission since achieving criticality in October 2023 and has provided the first real-world experimental data on thorium operations.

What People Are Saying

Mark Hibbs, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on the Chinese nuclear sector, told The New York Times last month: "The Chinese are moving very, very fast. They are very keen to show the world that their program is unstoppable."

Tim Allison, the director of the Southwest Research Institute's Department of Machinery, said of the STEP project in Texas: "Operating the integrated system is a noteworthy accomplishment. It follows the team's successful component-based commissioning activities and demonstrates combined operation of all equipment, including plant controls, compressor, heat exchangers, heater, turbine and CO2 inventory in addition to the facility's electrical and gas supply and cooling water systems."

What Happens Next

The breakthrough from the Nuclear Power Institute of China and Jigang International Engineering and Technology is expected to pave the way for future nuclear units in China. China now seeks to scale up these pioneering projects, with the sCO2 power generation system expected to be deployed in steel, nuclear and solar plants—and eventually mobile nuclear sources and spacecraft.

This achievement aligns with China's broader policy goals, including peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, with nuclear power playing a central role.

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