A comparison of the nuclear options for greenhouse gas mitigation in China and in the United States

China is quickly building up its nuclear power capacity while the hailed nuclear renaissance in the United States has been largely stagnant. The political and industrial structures explain the divergent paths. This paper draws lessons from the French experiences in deploying nuclear power and uses the lessons in comparing Chinese and U.S. policies. An authoritative political system and state-owned utility industry allow China to emulate the French approaches such as government-backed financing and broad-scale deployment with standardized design. The democratic political system and fragmented utility industry, and the laissez-faire ideology in the United States, on the other hand, are unfavorable to a nuclear renaissance. The prospect of a nuclear revival in the United States remains highly uncertain.As China builds up its nuclear industry, it will be able to reduce carbon emissions without a carbon price through a national plan to deploy low-carbon nuclear electricity, while the United States cannot implement a climate policy without a carbon price. American politicians should stop using China's lack of carbon cap as an excuse for postponing the legislation of a carbon price.

► The Chinese government and Chinese state-owned companies are indigenizing nuclear power technologies, establishing nuclear manufacturing capacity, and gradually scaling up nuclear power deployment.
► China is likely on a path to the biggest nuclear buildup in human history.
► The hailed nuclear renaissance in the United States has been largely stagnant.
► The underlying causes of U.S. Nuclear stagnation is rooted in the democratic political system and fragmented utility industry, and the laissez-faire ideology, which are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
► China can move toward a low-carbon electricity system without a carbon price. The United States needs a carbon price to implement a climate policy.