Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
an initiative to develop submarine reactors.
74
Since then, Chinese engi-
neers have completed 15 reactors in four locations, totaling 11,881 MWe of
installed capacity.
75
One of the government's key objectives in the early days
of the program was to amass requisite knowledge and capability in all stages
of the fuel cycle (uranium extraction and reining, fuel processing, plant
construction, operation, and decommissioning) so that China could become
self-suicient by the end of the 1990s. As a consequence, Chinese policy-
makers now consider nuclear power expansion as a strategically attractive
alternative to coal-ired power.
76
Similarly, although the irst wind farm that
was completed in 1986 in Shandong used imported turbines,
77
technologi-
cal transfer has resulted in four Chinese manufacturers within the top 10
wind power turbine manufacturers in the world, and scores of component
suppliers.
78
he breadth of expertise that now exists within power engineering cir-
cles in China undermines the already wavering strength of coal-ired power
interests. Historically, the coal industry has been an important employer
of China's rural, unskilled laborers—employing nearly 4.9 million workers
in 64,000 coal mines in 1997. Coal revenues have also been of high eco-
nomic importance to coal-rich provinces such as Shanxi, Inner Mongolia,
Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shandong, and Henan. Consequently, a network
of political support has developed around the coal sector.
79
However,
since the late 1990s, government initiatives to centralize coal production
(to enhance safety and improve economies of scale) reduced the num-
ber of coal mines to 3,215 in 2008. As of 2006, employment in coal min-
ing had fallen to 2.6 million, a 47% decline from 1997 levels.
80
Although
the economic importance of coal as a commodity remains high in many
of the coal-rich rural provinces, the political importance of the coal min-
ing sector has diminished as employment numbers fall and educational
levels improve, thereby broadening employment prospects for workers.
Furthermore, with exports now comprising almost 50% of all Chinese coal
production, pressure to sustain the coal mining industry through a com-
mitment to coal-ired power plants has lessened.
81
Overall, coal-ired power
plant advocates enjoy far less political leverage nowadays than they did a
mere decade ago.
6.6 POLITICAL INFLUENCES ON POLICY
6.6.1 National Political Structure
China has been described as a single-party, socialist state, governed by
the Communist Party of China (CPC) since 1949. he CPC describes its
