How China Became The World’s New Nuclear Energy Superstar

China is on a clear course to become the world’s first “electrostate" — and is likely to eclipse the U.S. in atomic power in the next decade.

This story is the second installment in a two-part series on nuclear power in Asia.

Maani-Ana Yikpotey saw the world changing.

In his three decades of life, the rain patterns shifted dramatically in his native village in northwestern Ghana. Drought parched the land. Millet, yams and beans withered on the vine. A bag of corn that once cost 900 cedis — a little under $60 at today’s exchange rate — shot up to 1,500 cedis.

Mobile phones and the Internet might have offered Ghanians another way to make money. But sometimes, it was a challenge just to keep their devices charged. When the water ran dry, the hydropower dams that provided the region’s electricity supply faced shortfalls, making blackouts more common.

After high school, Yikpotey went to university 13 hours south in Ghana’s booming coastal capital, Accra, and ultimately graduated with a degree in applied physics. He realized that if his fast-growing West African homeland was going to modernize, he’d need to help bring it into the club of 31 countries that harvest the power of splitting uranium atoms to generate clean, reliable electricity.