All three of China’s current aircraft carriers use steam engines, but reports indicate that the nation’s fourth carrier will be nuclear powered.
In today’s modern naval landscape, where aircraft carriers reign supreme, nuclear propulsion technology defines the geographic scope of a country’s strategies. Offering extended range, larger carrier capacity, and greater speeds, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers extend a country’s ability to project naval and aerial power beyond its immediate area. The United States, for instance, depends on its eleven Ford and Nimitz-class carriers to secure its global military presence. Of the six other countries deploying aircraft carriers, only France possesses a nuclear-powered one: the 42,000-ton Charles de Gaulle.
China, which possesses the world’s largest naval fleet, may be next to add the groundbreaking technology. Beijing has added three aircraft carriers since 2012, making its fleet of carriers the second-largest in the world. While rumors of Beijing’s desire for a nuclear-powered carrier have circulated for years, the technology has eluded the Eastern power thus far. However, China may have made significant strides towards realizing these ambitions, as satellite images from late 2024 revealed that China was building a land-based prototype nuclear reactor designed for a large surface ship outside of Leshan.
A few months later, images of China’s prolific Dalian shipyard lent further credence to these claims, showing Beijing experimenting with what many believe to be the preliminary designs of a Type 004 carrier capable of rivaling American carriers in size, capability, and nuclear propulsion. These rumors come during what may be the largest naval buildup in recent history, with China turning its PLA Navy from a global afterthought to one increasingly capable of realizing geopolitical ambitions deep into the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
