The world is belatedly waking up to the fact that there is no route to net zero without a huge amount of nuclear power. The existing PWR reactors have been extremely successful and have proved to be extremely safe. However there are multiple opportunities for technological progress, and many of the world's requirements will not be met by the current designs.
At a government level, the USA has only recently become supportive of research into nuclear energy. However the entrepreneurial spirit in America has ensured that there are many private companies pursuing a range of designs. Some of them will now get more financial support and less regulatory obstruction.
Meanwhile in China the government has initiated research and put a lot of money into particular ideas. For example they have built a substantial experimental Thorium molten salt reactor. It seems this project was initiated by a CCP princeling.
This brings me to the reason why I expect the USA to come out the winner in this race. The Chinese are very strong on respect for authority, respect for superiors, respect for seniority. I expect that the people working on the molten salt reator, and others on other projects, are thinking "My job is to make this plan work that has come from above".
What you need to win is a commitment to the team effort, plus a respect for the enemy rather than respect for superiors. And for a technical challenge, like building a better nuclear reactor, the enemy is reality. Respecting reality means doing everything you can to understand it, and being willing and unashamed to retreat when you can't defeat it.
In a recent development there was a large improvement in powerful superconducting magnets. American researchers realised that they could now make a much smaller tokamak reactor. And being American they didn't file that thought away. Instead they said "Let's build it" and that's what they're doing.
I suppose it will be good if China works out how to make cheap safe nuclear power and saves the world from climate change. However I hope and expect that American competitive and entrepreneurial spirit will win the race.
P.S. There are other promising commercial ventures outside America, including Copenhagen Atomics in Denmark and HB11 (fusion) in Australia.
