Let a Thousand Reactors Bloom

Explosive growth has made the People’s Republic of China the most power-hungry nation on earth. Get ready for the mass-produced, meltdown-proof future of nuclear energy.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.09/china.html
China is staring at the dark side of double-digit growth. Blackouts roll and factory lights flicker, the grid sucked dry by a decade of breakneck industrialization. Oil and natural gas are running low, and belching power plants are burning through coal faster than creaky old railroads can deliver it. Global warming? The most populous nation on earth ranks number two in the world – at least the Kyoto treaty isn’t binding in developing countries. Air pollution? The World Bank says the People’s Republic is home to 16 of the planet’s 20 worst cities. Wind, solar, biomass – the country is grasping at every energy alternative within reach, even flooding a million people out of their ancestral homes with the world’s biggest hydroelectric project. Meanwhile, the government’s plan for holding onto power boils down to a car for every bicycle and air-conditioning for a billion-odd potential dissidents.

What’s an energy-starved autocracy to do?

Go nuclear.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.09/china.html