China's nuclear exports: Understanding the dynamics between domestic governance reforms and international market competition

In the coming decades, China's nuclear energy expansion is expected to account for an increasing share of global nuclear growth. In addition to expanding domestic capacity, China aspires to become the world's important supplier of affordable nuclear reactors. The existing literature has ev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy research & social science 2023-09, Vol.103, p.103230, Article 103230
Main Authors: Li, Aitong, Liu, Yahan, Yu, Zongyao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
China
Nuclear exports
Nuclear safety
Policy diffusion
Standardization
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In the coming decades, China's nuclear energy expansion is expected to account for an increasing share of global nuclear growth. In addition to expanding domestic capacity, China aspires to become the world's important supplier of affordable nuclear reactors. The existing literature has evaluated China's nuclear exports but paid limited attention to the dynamics between domestic governance reforms and the international expansion of its nuclear technologies. Drawing on the policy diffusion literature, this study reevaluates China's nuclear exports by linking the evolution of the domestic governance system with China's changing status in the global nuclear regimes. On the one hand, China's export momentum and increasing engagement with global stakeholders have pushed domestic governance reforms. On the other hand, improved domestic governance helps China earn increasing international recognition, laying a solid foundation for China's nuclear exports in addition to its ambition to exert influence in global nuclear governance. Nevertheless, China's nuclear technologies still face the challenge of finding a market, as China's nuclear exports may only have minor advantages over those of other suppliers in relation to construction time and overnight costs while falling short in terms of financial and business innovations to attract potential buyers. Whether China can sustain its nuclear export momentum hinges on its capacity to further promote technology standardization, enhance safety regulation, encourage financial and business innovations, and push forward deeper-level governance reforms.
ISSN:2214-6296
2214-6326
DOI:10.1016/j.erss.2023.103230