ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Introduction and Self-Reliance of Pressurized Water Reactors in China

• In Event: The Evolution of Science and Technology in China: Tradition and Modernity in a Global Perspective 3

English Abstract

The transfer of pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology from France to China is an important event to the development of Chinese nuclear power. In the 1980s, China has gradually achieved self-reliance in the field of PWR through the introduction and subsequent absorption of France’s 900 MW reactors. Although China established a dialogue system on nuclear power with France through the implementation of the “728 Project”, the substantive content of technology transfer was very limited. Through the policy transition from “unhooking of technology and trade” to “integration of technology and trade” in the 1990s, China ultimately accomplished the absorption and innovation of PWR technology. With the continuous development of independent technology and its growing proportion in nuclear power projects, China has built its own nuclear power technology systems.

Author

• Yue Chen, Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences