Chinese Fire Up Their Most Powerful Nuclear Plant

Three days ago, Chinese sources reported that the Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in Fujian Province completed a hot functional test of its second unit, setting the facility up for fuel loading and soon thereafter, integration into the national grid. 

Unit 1 is already active, with the remaining 4 of 6 still under construction. 

At 7.2 gigawatts of capacity, this is the country’s biggest nuclear power plant — 1.5 gigawatts bigger than the biggest plant in Europe and nearly twice as productive as the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station, the biggest in North America. 

It's a massive, multi-billion dollar sign of the times.

Currently, the U.S. still operates the world’s biggest nuclear planet fleet, with 94 reactors operating across 54 facilities. 

China, by contrast, operates just 59 reactors at the moment, but 30 additional reactors are under construction, 36 have been planned, and 70 are in the proposal stages of development. 

Is Everthing In China Bigger, Better and Newer? Not Exactly

All in all, more than half of the new reactors currently under development in the world are located in China. 

There are currently no major reactors under construction in the U.S. 

If that sounds like a stark contrast, it should. The U.S. is currently leading the world in nuclear power generation, possessing almost ⅓ of total global production, but this isn’t going to last long. 

Within the next decade, the Chinese will shoot ahead of both in terms of reactor count and production capacity. 

Pushed forward by a massive population that’s also rapidly modernizing, breakneck speed growth in data center requirements, and the emerging AI revolution, the Chinese are feeling all of the same pressures we are, only at a scale levels above ours. 

But the situation in the U.S. may not be as depressing as the ‘zero under construction’ data point may indicate. 

Big Tech Takes Over Where Big Government Left Off

While the U.S. isn’t actively planning any new major nuclear power facilities, American companies — namely major tech brands including Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta Platforms (META) are all looking into a new, wholly different kind of nuclear power. 

Referred to in the industry as small modular reactors (SMRs), this new generation of nuclear plants won’t be the massive, looming variety of power stations that you might occasionally recognize in the distance by their distinctively shaped cooling towers. 

SMRs can be the size of a three story building or even smaller, with the tiniest of the concepts able to fit inside a standard shipping container. 

These mini reactors don’t have ten mile exclusion zones like the major generation facilities do, and they can be comfortably, safely, almost unnoticeably tucked away in rural areas or even in the suburbs. 

They won’t power entire cities, but they will be able to power the sorts of things which will need it the most: Military bases, hospitals and most of all, data centers.

A Nuclear Powered Maternity Ward? It's Coming

So while China rushes forward to beat the U.S. at a game we stopped playing years ago, our most powerful tech empires are taking matters into their own hands and planning entire minigrids to take care of their skyrocketing energy appetites. 

There’s just one problem that still stands in the way: nuclear fuel.

American nuclear fuel production, much like construction of the plants themselves, has fallen to zero in the last few years. 

The situation was so dire that it was only last year that we swore off our biggest supplier — Russia, for our refined Uranium. 

Yes, that’s the same Russia that we’re helping the Ukrainians battle on the plains of central Europe. 

And since swearing off Putin’s uranium, the situation hasn’t changed too much. At the moment, there is only one company in the entire country that’s initiated any new uranium enrichment programs in the last 70 years. 

First New American Uranium Refinement Since 1954

I don’t know about you, but to me, learning that the world’s leading supowerpower is that deficient in such a critical arena was a shock. 

As an investor, however, I immediately saw the opportunity.

In the next few years, the market for refined uranium is going to grow, substantially. 

The supply, however, will remain tight. 

And if there’s just one source accounting for all that volume, it makes the process of choosing an investment approach almost failsafe. 

The company behind it all is the very definition of ‘connected’. 

Once an asset of the Federal Government, the Bethesda-based firm now holds most of the cards in this high stakes game of poker. 

And with Trump unambiguously supportive of an American nuclear resurgance, there’s almost nothing left standing in the way. 

Interested? Get all the facts, right here.