Key Points:
- China successfully achieved kilogram-scale extraction of uranium directly from real ocean environments, marking a massive leap for nuclear energy supply.
- The state-run desalination industry now operates 167 projects, delivering a combined capacity of over 3 million tonnes of fresh water daily.
- Annual seawater used for heavy industrial cooling has reached 193.36 billion tonnes, representing an 86.4% increase compared to 2020.
- Under the 15th Five-Year Plan from 2026 to 2030, the country will build key technological reserves for extracting lithium, deuterium, and other trace minerals.
The race to unlock the vast, untapped resources of the world’s oceans has reached a major milestone as nations seek to secure their long-term independence from raw materials. Recently, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources released an extensive report highlighting significant advances in the country’s use of seawater. The detailed document sheds light on the vast reserves of strategic minerals dissolved in the oceans. It outlines the nation’s long-term plans to expand the extraction of these critical resources. Most notably, the report revealed that domestic research teams have successfully achieved the first kilogram-scale extraction of uranium directly from real ocean environments, proving that marine mining is rapidly transitioning from a theoretical concept into a viable industrial reality.
The successful extraction of uranium from the ocean represents a massive geopolitical and scientific breakthrough for the energy sector. Global uranium reserves dissolved in seawater are estimated at a staggering 4.5 billion tonnes, more than 1,000 times the currently known land-based reserves. Because land-based uranium mining often entails significant geopolitical risks, complex regulatory hurdles, and local environmental concerns, access to this massive marine reserve is highly valuable. If developers can successfully scale up this ocean-based extraction technology, it will provide a virtually inexhaustible supply of fuel to power the next generation of domestic and international nuclear reactors.
This scientific achievement is not a sudden development, but represents a long-term, highly coordinated effort by the country’s leading research institutes, universities, and industrial enterprises. For years, scientists have struggled to extract trace elements such as uranium from seawater because they occur at extremely low concentrations, often dissolved alongside billions of tons of sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. To address this, researchers developed advanced polymer adsorbents and high-capacity filtration systems. The ministry’s report noted that these joint teams have now made fundamental breakthroughs in key chemical theories and physical technologies required to extract not only uranium but also other vital trace elements such as lithium and deuterium.
The focus on extracting lithium and deuterium directly from seawater highlights the strategic alignment of the country’s industrial planning. Lithium is the cornerstone of the global battery market, powering everything from consumer electronics to electric vehicles, making a secure supply essential to protecting national manufacturing from global trade friction. Meanwhile, deuterium—an isotope of hydrogen—acts as a critical fuel source for next-generation nuclear fusion research. By developing the technology and equipment needed to harvest these strategic elements from the ocean, the country is effectively insulating its high-tech industries from potential land-based shortages.
Alongside these mineral extraction breakthroughs, the country’s seawater desalination and multipurpose utilization sector continues to grow steadily, establishing itself as a vital pillar of national water security. According to Xiang Wenxi, the director of the Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization based in Tianjin, the country currently operates 167 active desalination projects across ten coastal regions. These facilities deliver a combined production capacity of over 3.077 million tonnes of high-quality fresh water every single day, supplying water-scarce islands, local tourism hubs, and heavy industrial plants.
The massive expansion of this desalination network is particularly crucial for supporting the country’s heavy petrochemical and manufacturing bases. For instance, on Yushan Island in Zhejiang Province, a massive integrated oil refining and petrochemical base relies entirely on a proprietary dual desalination cluster that produces more than 515,000 tons of fresh water daily. This massive on-site water supply ensures the complex industrial facility can operate efficiently and reliably without draining precious freshwater from local municipal grids. Without these advanced desalination facilities, operating these large-scale island projects would be logistically and economically impossible.
In addition to supplying fresh drinking and industrial water, the country’s coastal factories are using seawater on a massive scale for cooling. The ministry’s report revealed that the annual volume of seawater used for heavy industrial cooling has reached an immense 193.36 billion tonnes. This massive figure represents a sharp 86.4% increase compared to 2020 levels, highlighting the rapid expansion of coastal power stations, chemical refineries, and steel mills over the past six years. Managing this massive flow of cooling water requires advanced, corrosion-resistant alloy piping and high-flow pumping systems to prevent marine biofouling and protect local ecosystems.
This rapid industrial transition is set to accelerate further under a highly coordinated national policy roadmap. Director Xiang Wenxi confirmed that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, running from 2026 to 2030, the government will actively promote the rapid iteration of relevant technologies and manufacturing equipment. The strategic plan focuses on building up a robust stockpile of technological reserves specifically designed to extract strategic elements from seawater. By investing heavily in automated, modular extraction systems now, the country is ensuring its domestic industries remain highly competitive as global demand for critical minerals continues to soar.
According to official reports published by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, the country’s seawater desalination and utilization sector is actively transitioning from meeting purely domestic needs to exporting its proprietary technologies to international markets. The global market for desalination and advanced water-treatment systems is growing rapidly, with countries in the Middle East and North Africa spending billions to secure their water supplies. Even a minor 1.5% increase in global market share could translate into massive revenues for domestic equipment manufacturers. As governments collectively allocate over $100 billion to secure water infrastructure, the export of these advanced marine systems represents a massive, multi-billion-dollar business opportunity.
Ultimately, the Ministry of Natural Resources’ landmark report highlights a major transition in how modern industrial economies approach natural resource security. By moving beyond the limitations of traditional, land-based mining and demonstrating the viability of kilogram-scale uranium extraction in real ocean environments, the country is building a highly resilient, resource-rich future. As the Institute of Seawater Desalination continues to scale its 167 active projects and refines its mineral harvesting equipment under the 15th Five-Year Plan, this advanced marine technology will play a critical role in securing the national water, energy, and raw material baselines, ensuring that the country’s future industrial growth remains backed by the limitless resources of the ocean.
