China launches the world's first fourth-generation nuclear power plant

China has commissioned the world's first fourth-generation nuclear power plant, the State Energy Administration of China said Wednesday.

The Chinese Energy Administration indicated in a statement that the "Xidaowan" facility, which is located in eastern Shandong Province and uses a gas-cooled high-temperature reactor, worked continuously in test mode for 168 hours and has now been officially put into commercial operation.

"This indicates that China has reached the world's leading level in research, development and application of fourth-generation nuclear energy technologies," the statement said.

The statement explained that the most important advantage of gas-cooled high-temperature reactors is their safety in the field of electricity generation, which opens up broad horizons for them.

Study: The world has 7 years to go before crossing the safe warming threshold

Scientists warned on Tuesday, November 5, that the world may exceed the global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius within 7 years as carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels continue to rise.

Scientists urged countries participating in the COP28 climate summit talks to “act immediately” on coal, oil and gas pollution.

Battle lines are being drawn over the future of fossil fuels at the UN climate summit in Dubai, where participants are trying to reach an agreement to phase out carbon-intensive energy responsible for most human-caused global greenhouse gases.

Carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuels rose 1.1% last year, according to an international union of climate scientists in their annual assessment of the Global Carbon Project, with emissions rising in China and India, which are now the world's first and third largest emitters.

They estimated there was a 50% chance of exceeding the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C multi-year temperature rise by around 2030, although they noted uncertainty about temperature rise caused by greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide.

“It is becoming more and more urgent,” lead author Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter's Institute of World Systems told reporters. "The time between now and 1.5 degrees Celsius is shrinking dramatically, so to keep the chance of staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius, or very close to 1.5 degrees Celsius." Centenary, we have to act now."

The landmark 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries commit to limiting temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Since then, the more ambitious 1.5°C target has become more urgent as evidence emerges that rising temperatures could lead to dangerous and irreversible tipping points.

To maintain this limit, the climate science panel of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said carbon dioxide emissions must be cut in half this decade.

The Global Carbon Project found that this task is becoming more difficult as emissions continue to rise.

Glenn Peters, a senior researcher at the Cicero Center for International Climate Research, said carbon dioxide emissions are now 6% higher than when countries signed the Paris Agreement.

“Things are going in the wrong direction,” he added.

This comes despite a promising boom in renewable energy, a key issue at climate talks in Dubai where more than 100 countries have signed a call to triple renewable energy this decade.

He continued: “Solar wind, electric cars, batteries, they are all developing rapidly, which is great. But that is only half the story. The other half is reducing fossil fuel emissions. We are simply not doing enough.”

The study found that fossil fuels account for 36.8 billion tons of the total 40.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide estimated to be emitted this year.

Several major polluting countries recorded declines in carbon dioxide emissions this year, including a 3% drop in the United States and a 7.4% drop across the European Union.

But the study found that China, which accounts for a third of global emissions, is expected to see a 4% increase in carbon dioxide from fossil fuels this year, with increases in coal, oil and gas as the country continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. .

Meanwhile, scientists said a rise in carbon dioxide emissions of more than 8% in India means the country has now overtaken the European Union as the third largest emitter of fossil fuels.

Peters said that the growing demand for energy in both India and China is outpacing the proliferation of renewable energy sources.

Aviation emissions have risen 28% this year as they rebound from pandemic-era lows.

The study was published in the journal Earth System Science Data.