China opens nuclear R&D facilities for global cooperation

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on Tuesday during the ongoing Nuclear Industry China 2024 expo that it will open its scientific research facilities and test platforms, in batches, to international scientific institutions and nuclear energy companies for cooperation.

The first batch to be opened has ten key facilities, including the nuclear fusion reactor HL-3, a test reactor for medical isotopes, the world's first third-generation underground research lab, and an advanced research reactor, considered to be one of the six major neutron sources in the world.

Chinese nuclear experts said the plan will not only bring broader platforms for China's nuclear science and its application but also give new impetus to the development of global nuclear energy.

"This time we are opening four facilities, including three research reactors and one ion beam device," said Zhang Libo, deputy director-general of China Institute of Atomic Energy.

"We hope to open more to our peers across the world, bringing greater scientific achievements and ensuring mutual safe development for us all," Zhang said.

"We are opening a seismic simulator this time, mainly to cooperate with global scientists researching anti-seismic capabilities of nuclear facilities," said Feng Yongjin, deputy director-general of Nuclear Power Institute of China.

He said that through this, they hope to integrate multiple disciplines to promote the stability and reliability of nuclear equipment.

Wang Ju, the chief designer of Beishan Underground Research Laboratory said it could offer scientists across the world with a very good platform for research on disposal technologies of high-level radioactive waste with granite as host rock.

"They could come to join in-situ experiments and start brand new ones with facilities there," Wang said.

The experts said that unlike other technological research, nuclear science needs a lot of infrastructural support, and that's why cooperation matters.

CNNC said more facilities will be opened, and it hoped more countries and scientific institutions could be linked up for sharing, promoting, and contributing to the development of global nuclear energy.