China’s controversial plans to deploy floating nuclear reactors in the South China Sea could recalibrate the region’s power dynamics while sparking dangerous new tensions with the United States and its regional partners and allies.
This month, The Washington Post reported that China is pursuing plans to develop floating nuclear reactors that could power military bases on its artificial islands in the South China Sea. The report says that China is pushing ahead with the plans even though the international community has not yet agreed on standards governing the safe use of floating reactors.
Admiral John Aquilino, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, has warned that China’s use of floating nuclear power plants could negatively impact the region while emphasizing that the plan would strengthen China’s various claims in the hotly disputed maritime area.
China has contested claims in the sea with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan, each boiling at different temperatures. A United Nations arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines against China over their contested claims in 2016, a ruling Beijing has ignored.
The US State Department is also concerned that China’s deployment of floating nuclear power plants could raise new risks to US national security and potentially escalate already-tense regional security dynamics.
The sea-based nuclear plants would help to solidify China’s occupation of various artificial islands it has built up and militarized in recent years in the maritime area. The plants would pose more significant risks than US nuclear submarine visits at overseas ports, the Washington Post report says.
Currently, only Russia operates a floating nuclear reactor, known as Akademik Lomonosov and launched in December 2019. It is powered by two KLT-40S reactors aboard Russian nuclear icebreakers and two steam turbines.
Experts and activists are skeptical about floating nuclear reactors due to their unique vulnerabilities compared to land-based plants. A catastrophic accident, they note, could release radioactive contaminants into the ocean.
They would also potentially be vulnerable to military and terrorist attacks, sabotage, tsunamis or extreme storms. The South China Sea provides 12% of the world’s fish catch and transit to around one-third of global sea trade, meaning any accident would be catastrophic.
The Washington Post also points out China’s spotty nuclear safety record, noting in particular the 2021 Taishan Nuclear Power Plant incident. It says that while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seeks to issue safety standards for floating nuclear reactors, China and Russia have slowed the process, with China reportedly seeking to influence the IAEA into developing less stringent standards.
The Ukraine war may have accelerated China’s floating nuclear power plant program, with Russia and China announcing a “no-limits” partnership in strategic areas such as nuclear technology.
Meanwhile, Russia’s flagging arms sales and Western-led sanctions on its energy sector may have motivated it to seek alternative sources of revenue, including nuclear technology exports to China.
In a January 2024 report for the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI), Daniel Shats notes that Russia’s Rosatom Overseas and China National Nuclear Cooperation (CNNC) New Energy signed a Memorandum of Intent in 2014 to collaborate specifically on creating floating nuclear power plants.
Three years later, in 2017, CNNC announced plans to construct as many as 20 floating nuclear plants in the South China Sea.
Shats points out that the plants would provide electricity and water to China’s various contested, artificially built regional features. Despite these plans, China’s floating nuclear power plants have yet to be completed and apparently do not involve much collaboration with Russia.
However, in September 2021, Rosatom awarded a US$226 million contract to Chinese shipbuilding firm Wison (Nantong) Heavy Industries to build two more hulls to be used for floating nuclear power plants to power the Baimsky mining and processing plant in Chukotka in northeast Siberia. Russia has plans to build four more such plants, including the two with China-supplied hulls.
Shats mentions that while the Russia-China bilateral relationship has become increasingly lopsided in favor of China since the Ukraine war, nuclear technology is one field where Russia maintains a dominant position over China, including in floating nuclear reactors and nuclear waste management.
However, he says China still strongly prioritizes indigenous development, despite substantial nuclear technology cooperation with Russia.
In a November 2018 Belfer Center article, Viet Phuong Nguyen mentions that while China initially considered importing floating nuclear reactor technology from Russia, China announced it would use an indigenous ACPR50S reactor designed by China General Nuclear Power (CGN) to support offshore oil and gas exploration activities in the Paracel and Spratly Islands and sustain its civilian presence in those areas.
According to CGN, the ACPR50S has a capacity of 50 megawatts and is intended to supply power for offshore oil production, desalination operations, heating and cooling for coastal areas and islands, and provide fresh water.
Despite that, Nguyen points out that land scarcity in China’s occupied features in the South China Sea makes civilian settlement very unlikely, bringing the military aspect of the endeavor to the fore.
He notes that deploying a floating nuclear reactor in the South China Sea solidifies China’s territorial claims and raises the potential cost of any US attack on China’s occupied features.
He also says China’s research into floating nuclear reactors could help advance its aircraft carrier program. China plans to have six aircraft carriers by 2035, and while it has three conventionally powered carriers, its fourth will most likely be nuclear-powered.
Despite the controversy surrounding floating nuclear reactors, they have the potential to revolutionize energy security and renewable energy.
In a November 2023 IAEA article, Lucy Ashton says the technology can provide a reliable energy supply in far-flung maritime areas, on remote islands or in coastal communities.
Ashton notes an increasing interest in using small modular reactors (SMR) on floating platforms or barges to provide clean energy and heat to remote coastal areas, decarbonize offshore oil, gas or mining operations and even generate grid-scale electricity production at lower costs.
She says floating nuclear reactors set themselves apart from their naval and icebreaker counterparts by generating low-carbon energy and heat for various uses such as hydrogen production, district heating and desalination.
The reactors can be produced in a factory, assembled in a shipyard and moved to the desired destination, a process that could decrease the time and expenses associated with construction.
However, Ashton points out that the mobility of floating nuclear reactors poses questions about licensing and regulation when they cross country borders or operate in international waters.
In particular, she asks how these processes would work when a floating nuclear reactor is built and fueled in one country’s jurisdiction and transported to another.
While noting the IAEA is still working on safety standards for floating nuclear reactors, she says they could help archipelagic countries replace coal-fired power plants and produce hydrogen to be converted into green ammonia for shipping and agricultural use.
A catastrophic accident, they note, could release radioactive contaminants into the ocean.
No worry USA will certified that nuke waste water is very very safe just like Fukushima Nuke water
“United Nations arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines against China over their contested claims in 2016, a ruling Beijing has ignored.”
What UN arbitral tribunal? You are spreading lie.
this writer (non journalist) is too sneaky, must have been paid by CIA
A United Nations arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines against China over their contested claims in 2016, a ruling Beijing has ignored.
correction – not a united nation Arbitral tribunal, it was a paid Tribunal by Philippine in the tune of 30 millions dollars
Arbitration requires the consent of both parties. China was not involved, so the arbitral tribunal overstepped its jurisdiction.
As is usual in western oriented media his characterization was false as well. “taiwan” as the Repuublic of China – made the original claims. Vietnam also has the same claims. So that means “Taiwan” and Vietnam has the same disputes with the others. But of course they don’t report that. That’s why they all rejected that same “tribunal” ruling. In fact – Malaysia did as well because it invalidated some of their features as well.
Plus Indonesia and China have no competing claims. China doesn’t claim the Natuna Islands. The dispute is where does the EEZ end. Many countries around the world have similar disputes.
I am a fan of floating nuclear power plants. Imagine a river like the Mississippi, say, with multiple urban conurbations along its length. Barge mounted SMRs would be an ideal way of deploying electricity generation. The big advantage would be in refuelling. Instead of refuelling in situ, with the plant offline for however long, just float a spare in, and send the spent one down to the Gulf of Mexico for refuelling.