The nuclear technology application industry is an important component of China's new quality productive forces and a typical strategic emerging industry.
As the industry rapidly advances,its role in empowering a wide range of sectors and driving integrated innovation has become increasingly prominent.To further promote the construction of a modern nuclear technology application industrial chain,the Second Nuclear Technology Application Industrial Chain Co-Chain Action Conference will be held on November 27 in Nanning,capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The Nuclear Technology Applications Industrial Chain Consolidation Action Plan will be released at the upcoming conference.
Industry insiders told the Global Times that the plan is China's first systematic industrial chain upgrading initiative jointly launched by an industry association and co-participated by multiple stakeholders.One of its core goals is to reinforce the national security barrier for the nuclear application industry,and lay a solid foundation for ensuring isotope safety and self-sufficiency during the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period(2026-30).
Extensive application scenarios
"Nuclear technology applications,also known as isotope and radiation technology applications,usually refer to non-power civilian nuclear technology.They constitute an important part of the modern science and technology,"Guo Lili,secretary-general of the China Isotope and Radiation Association(CIRA),told the Global Times on November 14.
Guo noted that the nuclear technology application industry is characterized by high technological intensity,high efficiency and high quality,making it a representative of new quality productive forces.
"China has now established a multi-level,multi-chain collaborative development structure,where several key sub-sectors have already achieved scale and industrialization,"Guo said.
Among these,nuclear medicine,the field most closely linked to public well-being,has seen leapfrog development in China.The domestic nuclear medicine industry has entered the stage of rapid growth,becoming an indispensable tool for the precise diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors,cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases,neurodegenerative disorders,and other complex conditions.
"At the technological level,China's nuclear medicine sector has progressed from a follower to a parallel runner,and in some areas a leader,with remarkable breakthroughs in core fields,"Guo said.
Beyond nuclear medicine,many nuclear technology applications benefit daily life constantly but remain unfamiliar to the public.According to Liu Yuntao,chief engineer of China Isotope and Radiation Corporation,nuclear technology applications can often be described as"small but beautiful"in actual use.
In the industrial sector,radiation processing is used for material modification.For example,high-speed railway and metro construction require underground cables with strong insulation and aging resistance.After electron-beam irradiation,the performance of such industrial cables is significantly enhanced.The technology has also been adopted in the production of under-floor heating pipes,automobile tires and other everyday goods,greatly extending their service life,Liu explained.
Nuclear technology is also used in pest control.Irradiated male mosquitoes lose reproductive ability.Once released into the wild,mating with female mosquitoes results in no offspring,effectively reducing mosquito populations and lowering the risk of vector-borne diseases."This technology was able to be maturely applied to the battle against the chikungunya outbreak in South China's Guangdong Province this year,"Liu said.
According to a briefing provided by CIRA,the International Atomic Energy Agency once assessed that nuclear technology directly contributes to nine of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.uclear technologies are empowering various industries at unprecedented breadth and depth.
Production workshop for helicobacter pylori breath test products Photo:Courtesy of China National Nuclear Corporation
Strong economic potential
The broad application prospects also signal strong economic potential.According to CIRA,although China's nuclear technology application industry has grown steadily over the past decade,its share in the national economy remains far below that of advanced economies,indicating a huge potential for development.
By 2026,the independent innovation capability of China's nuclear technology application industry will be significantly enhanced,and the industrial field will be further expanded according to the three-year action plan for high-quality development of the nuclear technology application industry(2024-2026)released in 2024.
"Over the next few years,we expect the industry's compound annual growth rate to exceed 10 percent,with total output reaching around 600 billion yuan($84.4 billion)by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period,"Guo said.
Nuclear medicine remains the fastest-growing segment.According to CIRA,the market size of radiopharmaceuticals alone is expected to grow from 9.3 billion yuan in 2025 to 26 billion yuan in 2030.Beyond medicine,nuclear technologies show strong prospects in industrial upgrading,agriculture,environmental governance,public safety and high-end materials.
In frontier technologies,China's nuclear technologies are expected to emerge as strategic"game-changers."
"China has mastered neutron irradiation for producing 8-inch single-crystal silicon,with an annual capacity of 30-40 tons.We have also developed a product system of medium-current,high-current and high-energy hydrogen ion implanters,and built a domestically leading radiation research and development and manufacturing facility for power semiconductor chips-achieving 100 percent indigenous technology and equipment,and resolving critical bottlenecks in China's power chip industrial chain,"Guo said.
Addressing weak links
At the conference,CIRA will release the action plan for strengthening the Nuclear Technology Applications Industrial Chain Consolidation Action Plan.
"China's nuclear technology application industry is entering a critical transition from scale expansion to quality upgrading.Achievements and bottlenecks coexist,requiring a systematic action plan aligned with future development,"Guo said.
The plan will deliver results in three key areas,namely reinforcing security safeguards,cultivating a"nuclear technology plus"ecosystem and providing policy models.
The plan also features a high degree of coordination.The Global Times found that it mobilizes research institutes and enterprises across the industry and assigns detailed responsibilities to leverage their strengths,covering infrastructure upgrades,key technology breakthroughs and standard-setting.
"This highly collaborative model exemplifies the industry's interpretation of China's institutional strength of'concentrating resources to accomplish big tasks.'It is an innovative practice for aligning industrial development with national strategies,and an industry-level application of the new national system,"Guo said.
For critical bottlenecks,the plan aims to unite participants to jointly strengthen weak links and achieve breakthroughs.Ultimately,it will drive the nuclear technology application industry's leapfrog development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and contribute valuable experience to China's broader modernization of industrial systems,Guo noted.
