THE rogues of climate change are joining forces to clean up the planet.
During Chinese president Hu Jintao鈥檚 visit to the US last week, the two countries announced a spate of collaborations on two of the biggest potential game-changers in clean energy: carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear power.
China stands to gain from having increased access to US technical know-how, while the US is no match for China鈥檚 ability to build at breakneck speed: GreenGen, a 250-megawatt coal-fired power plant with CCS technology, was recently completed in Tianjin a mere 17 months after it was announced.
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China also offers the US a less rigid testbed for new technologies. At a public forum on 18 January, US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman suggested that a new type of nuclear reactor, known as a 鈥渢ravelling wave鈥� reactor, would be best tested in China. 鈥淭he regulatory environment in the US means it would take decades just to certify the design,鈥� he said.
Outsourcing field tests of reactors could make for an alliance 鈥� some might call it unholy 鈥� in which the US transfers risk to a country with lower safety standards. But Andrew Kadak, who has served on the safety board of nuclear power plants in China, says the problem isn鈥檛 lax Chinese rules, but overly rigid US ones. 鈥淭he US process does not allow for innovative designs,鈥� he says. In other words, if the US became a bit more like China, the environment might benefit.