As a strategic industry of China, the nuclear power industry follows an innovation-driven strategy and keeps on reforming and upgrading. By focusing on the power generation technology, China has developed a Generation-III pressurized water reactor technology independently and achieved breakthroughs in the fast reactor and the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with the features of Generation- IV reactor technology. As a key member in the international ITER program, China has successfully promoted the Planning Package program and achieved the delivery plan, laying a solid foundation for the “thermal reactor-fast reactor and nuclear fusion” three-step strategy. On the basis of summarizing the development stages of nuclear power science and technology, this paper points out the development tendency and the technical direction for implementing the three-step strategy in the 13th Five Year Plan periods and, especially, how to realize the second step of “thermal reactor to fast reactor” and the third step of “fast reactor and nuclear fusion”. Finally, this paper gives a prospective for the future development of the nuclear power science and technology.

proprietary Generation-III nuclear power technology  /  Generation-IV nuclear power technology  /  nuclear fusion technology  /  three-step strategy