China Aggressively Pushes to Become Dominant Nuclear Player

Workers at the Qinshan nuclear power plant walk past containment structures hosing nuclear reactors, in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, on June 10, 2005. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

China and its roughly 1.4 billion citizens are the world’s biggest consumer of power. As the nation’s energy consumption grows, Beijing is anxious to develop alternative sources. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that China will overtake the United States as the biggest nuclear-energy producer by 2030.

China’s nuclear ambitions have now extended beyond its borders. Most recently, on July 29, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a plan to build that country’s fourth nuclear power plant by working with China, according to Turkish news site Ahval.