China escapes nuclear 'cost curse' with $2 per watt power plants

A recent study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Harvard, CUNY, and Stony Brook University highlights how China has significantly reduced the costs of nuclear power plant construction compared to the US and France. While new nuclear plants in the US can cost up to $15 per watt and French plants around $4 per watt, China’s highly standardized designs achieve costs as low as $2 per watt. This stark contrast is attributed to China’s strategic approach, which includes strict regulation, long-term planning, and a focus on indigenization—substituting expensive imports with domestically produced components to lower expenses and improve efficiency. The study notes that while the US and France have seen rising nuclear construction costs due to factors like increased regulation, lack of standardization, and complex reactor designs, China has managed to halve its costs since the early 2000s and maintain stability. China’s model involved initially importing foreign reactors for immediate deployment, then gradually shifting to domestic production of simpler components and relying on local