8/14/2024

China building alternative energy sources

 China is reported to be building large numbers of nuclear power plants to reduce its massive imports of oil and coal. When China says it is building many nuclear power plants, it means something big, nothing puny. China does not indulge in puny boasting like some other countries, and the West better take note. This is a big step forward that China is making to reduce its high dependence on energy from foreign sources, especially from the Middle East, that may be detrimental to its needs in times of war.

While the West, like USA and Germany are reported to be decommissioning nuclear power plants or not building many new ones, China is doing the exact opposite. China knows the world's future lies in nuclear energy and hydro-electric power generation, with renewables complimenting the requirements. China has many big rivers for building massive hydro-electric power stations, which it is doing now.

As we now know, Russia is the dominating power in the nuclear fuel supply chain for nuclear power plants in the West and therefore is instrumental for the operation of such nuclear facilities in the West. With China's rise in nuclear generation, it will provide the demand for Russian nuclear fuel exports, increasing Russia's bargaining power with the West.

The USA and the West have not included sanctions on nuclear fuel supply chains against Russia yet, due to the above reasons, and may start sanctioning Russia's nuclear power supply chains in times of desperation. This will again benefit China most of all. Everything is ready in Russia and China to counter what the West is planning to do to bring Russia and China down, but both are now seen to be working hand in glove to counter the eventualities. Will the USA and the West work towards shooting their own feet in another display of stupidity?

Anonymous

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Earlier today I visited the site 'Inside China Business' and watched the video titled 'America's factory boom now a bust as China cuts off graphite sales, likely to push tariff repeals'.

'Made in USA' EVs, one industry alone, is already stuttering after all the song and dance that Biden is making about how the USA is trying to lure EV manufacturing back to the country with a factory building boom going on. Even foreign manufacturing icons like TSMC and Samsung are jumping on the factory building frensy bandwagon, with all the subsidies thrown in for them.

The reality is that the USA is putting the cart before the horse and hoping the carriage can move forward. What the USA is doing is building factories first and then sourced for the raw materials to feed those factory production capacity and needs, not realizing who is controlling the raw materials. This is a going to be a certainty for failure. USA Commerce Secretary refers to China as 'the enemy', so China's response must be mutual at best.

The future of global transport is still going to be dominated by EVs. The USA wants to build its own EV building hub and betting big on it. But first, it has to get rid of competition from China, which is what it is doing now, with the 100% tariffs on EVs made in China. China is retaliating by cutting off its graphite sales for making EV batteries, without which the building of the EV hub in the USA is facing a stillborn situation. Without the means to build EV batteries to support its EV building hub, resulting from China's graphite sales ban, what is the USA going to do?

Sure, the USA can also start building from scratch their graphite supply chains, but time is not on its side. Such EV factories being built cannot wait for, maybe three years optimistically, for those EV battery builders to start their production schedule. By that time, costs constraints will just kill them both off without the ability to find a global market to absorb the EV battery output that will still be dominated by China with its control of graphite production as well.

You see, China's overcapacity in every sector is a massive asset in times of need to retaliate against those out to destroy China's manufacturing base. It was an investment strategy that only the Chinese could have thought about long ago. China thinks decades ahead before embarking on its mission to dominate, in all sectors I would say.

Anonymous said...

The USA is now concentrating on building factories, but not what those factories are supposed to build inside them. What a mother of all jokes!