China demonstrates affordable nuclear power plant construction feasibility
A new study published in Nature reveals that China's nuclear power plants have lower construction and operating costs compared to plants in the United States and France. The authors attribute this cost reduction to a combination of standardized designs, strategic industrial policy, economies of scale, and strong state-backed financing.
Standardization and Mass Production
China's success in reducing nuclear power plant construction costs is largely due to the use of highly standardized reactor designs and repeating construction methods across many projects. Currently, China is building 27 reactors simultaneously, enabling optimized industrial processes, bulk purchasing of materials, and workforce specialization, resulting in lower unit costs.
State-led Industrial Strategy
The Chinese government coordinates nuclear development with strategic industrial policies that emphasize manufacturing efficiency, long-term planning, and development continuity. This approach allows the sector to accumulate learning and reduce costs progressively.
Low Cost of Capital via State Financing
China’s nuclear projects benefit from massive direct state funding, resulting in very low financing costs. This contrasts with Europe and the US, where projects often depend on private investors exposed to political, regulatory, and market risks, leading to costly overruns.
Continuous Deployment and Stable Policy
A consistent, supportive regulatory environment and steady deployment permit learning curve benefits and reduce risk premiums compared to fragmented or sporadic nuclear development in Western countries.
In contrast, the US and France have struggled with multiple diverse designs, lack of standardized approaches, scarce and discontinuous project pipelines, and higher capital costs, all of which hinder cost reductions. For example, France's costly EPR projects illustrate how limited scale and uncertainty in financing inflate costs relative to China.
The authors of the study urge researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders to avoid repeating past mistakes, such as abandoning standardized designs or rushing to localize complex systems, before domestic capabilities are ready. They also argue for deeper component-level cost analysis and greater alignment between safety and cost control in regulatory systems.
The study was conducted by a team from Johns Hopkins University, Harvard, CUNY, and Stony Brook University, and is posted under the category of Science+Technology. The current cost of the highly standardized Chinese-designed nuclear plants is about $2/watt, which is half the cost of plants in the US and France.
The authors warn that globally, the more nuclear power is built, the more expensive it becomes, but in China, they see a strategy that is driving costs down. They also question what happens to the costs and risks of nuclear power when plants age and end-of-life and decommissioning costs must be addressed.
Gang He, an assistant professor at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at CUNY's Baruch College, states that strategic indigenization may be key for reducing costs in not just nuclear, but other clean technologies. Minghao Qiu, an assistant professor at Stony Brook University, suggests that countries exporting nuclear technology should collaborate with importing ones to identify components that can be locally manufactured and train the workforce.
Dan Kammen, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of the Just Energy Transition at Johns Hopkins, says the analysis offers a valuable playbook for countries aiming to deploy nuclear energy affordably and at scale. He adds that breaking the cost curse will take more than technology-it will take a smart and strategic approach. Shangwei Liu, the lead author and a researcher at Harvard's Kennedy School, cautions that nuclear power is still not cheap, but says China's experience offers a valuable strategy for cost reduction.
The study follows a model first tried in 2007, when the authors could only access data for the 'fleet' of 103 U.S nuclear plants at 67 sites. Now they can look globally and update their approach at a time when many nations are taking a second look at nuclear power. The authors urge decision-makers to learn from both success stories and setbacks, particularly as interest in small modular reactors grows and new nations enter the nuclear arena.
- The standardization of reactor designs and mass production in China's nuclear industry enables optimized industrial processes, bulk purchasing of materials, and workforce specialization, resulting in lower unit costs.
- A strategic industrial policy coordinated by the Chinese government allows for manufacturing efficiency, long-term planning, and development continuity, resulting in progressive cost reductions in the sector.
- China's nuclear projects benefit from low-cost capital via massive direct state funding, contrasting with the higher capital costs faced by projects in Europe and the US due to exposure to political, regulatory, and market risks.
