First concrete poured for Bailong 2 nuclear power unit

China poured first concrete for unit 2 of the Bailong Nuclear Power Plant on 27 September 2026. The State Power Investment Corporation facility in Guangxi will build two CAP1000 reactors (1.25 GW each) in phase one, expected to take 56 months and cost around CNY40 billion. Unit 1's concrete pour occurred in December 2025. The site is planned eventually to host six reactors totalling 8.62 GW. When complete, phase one is projected to generate 20 billion kilowatt-hours annually and avoid 16 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Where this fits

China is now executing firm, low-emission generation at pace while Australia bans nuclear by law. Bailong sits in a long pipeline of Chinese nuclear builds approved in August 2024, part of a strategy to pair renewables with dispatchable capacity. Australia's energy transition is instead premised on renewables firmed by gas and battery storage, a path that requires an overbuild of transmission, a material-intensive battery supply chain (dominated by China), and sustained gas burning through the 2030s. The firm-power alternative, the technology with the lowest lifecycle emissions of any generation source, remains legislatively off the table.

What it means

Australia is betting its grid and emissions trajectory on a weather-dependent, material-heavy, China-dependent supply chain, while the technology best suited to firm low-carbon power at scale remains prohibited. Bailong's concurrent construction of two units demonstrates execution capability and capital confidence. The contrast is not reassuring: a renewable-plus-gas transition is materially and cost-heavy, and Australia has no domestic command of the critical-mineral processing, battery manufacturing, or inverter supply chains it now depends on. Energy security and strategic autonomy are being traded for a construction timeline that, in the end, may not deliver lower emissions or lower cost.