Monday, April 3, 2023

Pentagon fake news about Chinese fast breeder reactors — Jonathan Tennenbaum

Assistant Secretary of Defense John Plumb knew better when characterizing Russia-China reactor cooperation as a nuclear weapon threat...

What's up then? Demonizing Russia and China? Probably, but there is more to milk from the story.

The disinformation about China’s fast breeders offered by the Pentagon and others misses the key point: China and Russia are poised to dominate the world’s entire nuclear power sector, while the US and other Western countries have for decades been downsizing and even dismantling their nuclear industries.

China is currently pursuing by far the world’s largest nuclear power program, including the most innovative reactor types. Russia, the world’s leader in fast breeder reactors and a number of other key areas of nuclear technology, is today by far the world’s largest exporter of nuclear power plants and has a nearly dominant position in many global nuclear supply chains. 

Together, China and Russia are set to capture the vast emerging market for nuclear power in developing countries – a circumstance of great strategic importance....

Asia Times
Pentagon fake news about Chinese fast breeder reactors
Jonathan Tennenbaum

1 comment:

Peter Pan said...

Fission and fusion research was/is always about weapons development. Promoting it as a power source gave it some legitimacy and PR cover.

It can't replace fossil fuels, and it won't stop us from burning fossil fuels, thereby releasing CO2. But more subsidized electricity is always welcome.