Dan Yurman had looked at China's increasing nuclear build.
Other savings advantages (beyond low labor costs) are possible by simplifying reactor design, and lowering materials input. Building a reactor with less materials and fewer parts lowers nuclear costs directly and indirectly. Decreasing core size per unit of power output also can contribute a cost advantage. Direct saving relate to the cost of parts and matetials, but fewer parts and less material also means less labor is required to put things together, since there is less to put together. In addition a small reactor core structure, would, all other things being equal, require a smaller housing. Larger cores mean more structural housing expenses.
In order to keep the American and European economies competitive, the United States and Europe must adopt a low cost, factory manufactured nuclear technology. Molten Salt nuclear technology represents the lowest cost approach, and is highly consistent with factory manufacture and other cost lowering approaches. Couple to that the outstanding safety of molten salt nuclear technology, the potential for dramatically lowering the creation of nuclear waste, and the obstacles to nuclear proliferation posed by molten salt nuclear technology, and we see a real potential for keeping the American and European economies competitive, at least as far as energy costs are concerned.
Charles Barton at Nuclear Green discusses American and European begin to develop low cost innovative nuclear plans in order to compete with the lower nuclear construction cost in China and asia
I also had written an article about China's nuclear build and the exporting of cheap reactors and how that could solidify the high end projections of the WNA for 2030.
A Feb 2009, McKinsey report (234 pages) that suggested what China could do for a greener economy. It looks like China will move even faster on several aspects of electrical generation than the report recommends. China is building out nuclear, hydro and wind power faster than the report talked about. The McKinsey plan does suggest making all cars in China electric by 2020.
