According to a report in the South China Morning Post, China is developing technology to construct nuclear power plants small enough to fit inside shipping containers 6.1 meters long and 2.6 meters high. The proposed power plants would be capable of generating enough electricity to power to 50,000 households.

The report suggests that the power plants may be constructed on an island in the contested South China Sea. Such a remote island would be able to support the technology without refueling for decades at a time.

China has already announced it will allocate 500 billion yuan ($78 billion) to build six to eight new nuclear power plants every year for the next five years, totalling 110 nuclear power plants by the year 2030. China also plans to export its nuclear technology, including “floating, mobile nuclear reactors“, that can be moved from one part of the sea to another.

A white paper has revealed that the country would be ill-equipped to deal with a nuclear accident should one occur. Meanwhile, physicist He Zuoxiu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has called the pace and scope of China’s nuclear energy ambitions “insane”.

“China currently does not have enough experience to make sound judgments on whether there could be accidents,” he said, adding that “the number of reactors and the amount of time they have been operating safely both matter.”