A uranium deposit estimated at 30 million tonnes has been identified beneath the Ordos desert in China’s Inner Mongolia region. Reported in 2025, the find could allow Beijing to cut its dependence on imported nuclear fuel and strengthen its standing in the atomic energy sector.
The discovery lands at a moment when China is expanding its reactor fleet. Work is under way on 11 new nuclear units, and a domestic source of fuel would improve the security of supplies while easing the costs attached to that construction programme.
The deposits bring complications of their own. Among the main difficulties are the availability of sufficient water, the treatment of waste created during extraction, and the safety of the people employed in mining the material.
Until now China has had to look beyond its borders for part of the raw material its reactors need. The Ordos reserves, if they are exploited on a large scale, offer a route to changing that equation.
Echoes far beyond the Chinese market
A decision to develop the resources intensively would carry consequences outside China. Material flowing from domestic mines could influence global trade relations in nuclear fuel and the price of uranium on world markets.
Reserves sufficient to satisfy China’s own demand would also make the country more resilient to possible interruptions in supply as the energy transition advances, at a time when competition for the same commodity is intensifying internationally.
One strand of a broader energy strategy
Nuclear power is only one component of how China intends to meet its energy needs in the years ahead. The country is at the same time developing renewable generation quickly, in particular solar photovoltaic installations and wind energy.
Solar and wind projects are being rolled out alongside the reactor programme, reflecting an approach that does not rest on a single technology.
Source: WNP.pl, Photo: Shutterstock/Dmitry Kalinovsky
