BeeBright/Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share The Apr. 27 approval by China’s State Council of 10 new large reactor newbuilds, representing a total capacity of 11.7 gigawatts, keeps Beijing on pace for its enormous build-out of third-generation large reactors through 2030. This is the fourth consecutive year that the State Council has approved at least 10 new reactors, a notable ramp-up from the five approved annually from 2019-21, although most of these approved projects have yet to reach the first concrete date (FCD) that formally marks nuclear construction. China now has more new nuclear capacity approved pre-FCD (31.5 GW) than it does new nuclear capacity actually under construction (31.2 GW), and, when combined, these projects represent a higher capacity than the 57 GW of China's 58 operational power reactors.