【By Zhang Jingjuan, Observers Network】When US President Trump sought to promote a "nuclear renaissance" in the US, Washington politicians may have forgotten an embarrassing fact: the country that once pioneered the atomic age is now 10-15 years behind China in nuclear technology.

The New York Times reported on the 23rd that the script of "the US invented, China scaled up" is being replayed in the field of nuclear energy, from solar panels to power batteries. Although the Trump administration aims to speed up the construction of nuclear power plants, solving the industry's bottlenecks is not something that can be achieved overnight.

Currently, nuclear energy has become one of the few issues where Democrats and Republicans have reached a consensus, even forming a rare harmony between some climate advocates and the Trump administration. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 60% of American adults support building new nuclear power plants, a significant increase from 43% in 2020.

Although the atmosphere has changed somewhat, the reality is that the United States has fallen far behind China in building new nuclear power plants.

Since 2013, the US has only built two new nuclear reactors, while China has completed 13, with another 33 under construction. China is rapidly becoming a leader in the global nuclear power sector, with its number of reactors under construction almost equal to the total of the rest of the world.

Although the Trump administration has elevated nuclear energy to the level of national security, it plans to quadruple the nuclear capacity to 400 GW by 2050 to support the power demands of artificial intelligence data centers, but there is still a long way to go to achieve this goal.

The report pointed out that building a nuclear reactor is extremely complex, and in Western countries it usually takes ten years or more, while China can build a nuclear reactor in five to six years. More ironically, it takes the same amount of time for the US to restart an existing nuclear power plant as it does for China to build a new one.

Some companies have turned their attention to small modular reactors (SMRs), which have lower capacity but theoretically lower initial costs and are easier to get through the approval process. However, the US has not yet built any SMR, and most related projects are expected to come online in the 2030s.

Previous attempts by the US to build SMRs have stalled, partly due to cost issues. Although a pilot program by the US Department of Energy aims to achieve criticality for at least three advanced reactor designs by July 2026, MIT professor Jacopo Buongiorno said these deadlines are highly challenging and just the first step.

Since 2013, the US has only built two new nuclear reactors, while China has completed 13, with another 33 under construction. The New York Times

In May this year, Trump signed four executive orders related to nuclear energy, requiring a comprehensive reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to make a final decision on nuclear reactor license applications within 18 months. However, Buongiorno pointed out that this is not the biggest bottleneck in building new nuclear power plants, the key issue is funding. He said that building a nuclear reactor requires 10 billion dollars.

Additionally, the US lacks a series of factories and manufacturers needed to quickly and efficiently produce nuclear reactors and components for nuclear power plants, and there are also few companies with the expertise to build and operate new nuclear power plants.

From Edison's invention of the light bulb to the birth of the internet in Silicon Valley, the US is not short of innovation, but in converting technology into industrial advantages, it has repeatedly lost to China.

The New York Times pointed out that although the US has early innovative achievements in nuclear power, it may be 10-15 years behind China in developing and building new technologies. "This is the same script: the US invented solar panels and batteries, but watched China expand the scale of these technologies and eventually take control of the global market."

Data shows that China has 59 operating nuclear reactors with a total installed capacity of 62.48 million kilowatts; 53 units have been approved for construction, with an installed capacity of 62.93 million kilowatts, and the total installed capacity has exceeded 125 million kilowatts, maintaining the top position in the world.

Chen Yachuan, director of the Nuclear Power Department of the National Energy Administration, emphasized at the 2025 International Energy Transformation Forum's nuclear power development sub-forum that the safety performance of China's nuclear power operation is particularly outstanding.

As of now, the operating nuclear reactors in China have been safely and stably operated for more than 600 reactor-years, and have maintained the highest WANO comprehensive index score globally for nine consecutive years. According to the comprehensive index published by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) in 2024, 43.18% of the full-score units worldwide are from China.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7564669099343659562/

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