In 1985, my wife and I traveled to China (see pictures below) to deliver information about nuclear energy to a country that at the time was extremely behind in technical knowledge.  Although in the past the country had invented some of the most impactful items the world has ever known, like gunpowder for example, their country lagged behind western countries with regard to modern technology and conveniences.  When we were there, for example, there were practically no cars on the road and the ones that we did see looked like they were from the 1950s.  Everyone seemed to have a bicycle instead.  So many people had bicycles that the major cities in China had to restrict the number of bicycle licenses they handed out because the roads were so overcrowded with them.  The country’s health and sanitation standards were also way behind most developed countries.  For example, in our motel rooms we were always given thermoses with hot (sterilized) water since we couldn’t put the water from the tap in our bathroom into our mouths due to the high levels of bacteria in it.  We had to use the water from the thermoses to brush our teeth, etc.

Terrie and I had gone to China with a large group of nuclear scientists and professionals as part of a People to People nuclear technology exchange effort.  It was a well organized and educational journey that pointed out that the Chinese people could be as nice as any other, despite the harsh communist regime in charge of their government.  We traveled to over four major cities, Terrie to shop, while I (along with my counterparts in the group) presented information about nuclear power plant operations to Chinese scientists and engineers.  At the time, climate change was not an issue, so no one was thinking about it in regard to the use of nuclear energy to reduce the impact to the environment when producing electricity that their country so desperately needed.  Then and now, China must use large amounts of coal (a fossil fuel) to fire their power plants to produce enough electricity to support their citizenry and to power their industrial facilities.  Thanks to Al Gore and other environmentalists however, today nearly everyone in the world now knows that the use of fossil fuels has to change if we want to try to minimize the impact that climate change is having.  Many (like myself) also believe that nuclear power can be a big help.  While in China, I visited the construction of their first large-scale nuclear power plant (the Quinshan nuclear station) during its early stages.  It eventually was completed and generating electricity in December of 1991, about six years after my visit.  Which, considering where they were technologically in 1985, didn’t appear possible.   Seemingly overnight, China embraced foreign investment and allowed economic expansion to take off.  American high tech companies were allowed to build factories in China and as a result, it jump started many industrial advances within China.  This carrried over into their colleges and universities and as a result, in 2016, China surpassed the United States for the first time in the output of scientific papers.   As of June of this year, China now has a total of 54 operating nuclear power stations – an amazing achievement.  They have 23 more approved for (or are already under) construction.  China’s cities have grown and modernized significantly, their highways were expanded, and the Chinese public has gone from bicycles to automobiles in record time.  Their absorption of western technology has been phenomenal.  Unfortunately this has included incredible improvements in their military capabilities as well – frighteningly so! Then recently, on December 5th at 1:00 in the morning, researchers in California made an amazing breakthrough in fusion technology.  It was formally announced just a few days ago, which is what triggered my thoughts about China.  One of the nuclear facilities I visited while I was traveling around their country was China’s tokamak fusion reactor research facility.  The tokamak design was pioneered in the early 1950s and the Chinese plant I was looking at appeared to be from that time period based on the appearance of the types of components they were using in its design.  Nevertheless, they were extremely proud of their plant and how they were working towards achieving a fusion reaction that would release more energy than it had needed to produce the atomic fusion in the first place.  A problem no one had previously been able to overcome until that brief demonstration in California on December 5th.  Even with this breakthrough, however, it probably will still take decades before a commercial version of a fusion power plant can be constructed allowing the vision that scientists had in the 1950s to be actually achieved.  And who knows, maybe by then it will be the Chinese who accomplish it first.