State-owned China National Nuclear Corporation could start commercial operation of its first power generation project about five years after a demonstration phase starting around 2045.

China aims to commercialise nuclear fusion technology for use in emissions-free power generation by 2050, according to the country’s state-owned atomic company.  

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which runs an experimental device dubbed the "artificial sun", could start commercial operation of its first power generation project about five years after a demonstration phase starting around 2045, it said in a media briefing on Friday.

The Asian nation has recently stepped up its ambitions in achieving nuclear fusion, a process by which the sun and other stars generate energy and that is considered a near-infinite form of clean energy. It is notoriously difficult to carry out in a sustained and usable manner and only a handful of countries like the US, Russia and South Korea have managed to crack the basics. 

CNNC last year formed an industry alliance and set up a new national fusion company, the China Fusion Corp. It has attracted about 1.75 billion yuan ($324.2 million) in investment from CNNC and Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power Co. for cutting-edge tokamak devices, which use magnetic fields to confine and control superheated plasma to produce power without emissions or significant radioactive waste. 

CNNC also plans to scale up production of its homegrown designs for regular nuclear fission reactors and small modular reactors over the next five years, the company’s Vice General Manager Xin Feng said at the briefing.

China is set to leapfrog the US and France as the owner of the world’s biggest reactor fleet by 2030. About 10 new reactors have been approved every year since power shortages emerged in 2022 and the country is expected to keep up that pace through 2030 to meet climate goals, CNNC said on Friday.  

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