China National Nuclear Power will cancel a nuclear energy technology development subsidiary scheduled to cooperate with Bill Gates’ Terra Power to develop fourth-generation nuclear energy technology because the US government is standing in the way of the partnership, CNNP announced yesterday.
Terra Power unilaterally terminated the cooperation in the fourth-generation nuclear energy technology traveling-wave reactor with the technology transfer limitations placed by the Trump administration, resulting in the loss of the foundation for the cooperation, the major Chinese energy developer said in its announcement.
CNNP decided to dissolve and cancel CNNP TWR Technology Investment Tianjin overseeing the project funding and CNPC Hebei Nuclear Power in charge of implementing the project, per the announcement.
CNNP’s wholly-owned CNNP Technology Investment unit holds a 50 percent stake in each of the two project companies.
CNNP TWR and Terra Power’s wholly-owned subsidiary set up a joint venture Global Innovation Nuclear Energy Technology with a 50:50 split in November 2017 to jointly develop traveling-wave reactor technology and advance the TWR project, per the announcement.
TWR is fourth-generation nuclear power technology, which uses a nuclear fission reactor to convert material into usable fuel via nuclear transmutation, in conjunction with the burnup of fissile material. Existing unclear power can directly use only about 0.7 percent of the isotopes in natural uranium, but the TWR technology can use 30 percent to 40 percent, and even 60 percent to 70 percent in some cases.
Theoretically the TWR technology can sustain operations for decades on one charge of fuel without replenishment or removal of spent fuel, which reduces the cost and environmental risks of nuclear energy as well as the risk of nuclear proliferation.
