Nuclear Industry Development and Global Supply Chain Length

Nuclear industry is not only a barometer of a country (region)’s economic development and industrial upgrading, but also an important strategic choice to achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. From the perspective of global competition, nuclear energy is reshaping the spatial structure of the global industry, changing the vertical division of labor system, and becoming a driving force for industrial upgrading. This paper collected the data of nuclear power generation in 34 countries (regions) from 1995 to 2018, matched with the world input-output table, and discussed the influence of nuclear industry development on extending the length of global supply chain. The results show that: first, there is a significant positive relationship between the development of nuclear industry and the length of supply chain. The proportion of nuclear power generation in total power generation increased by 1%, and the length of supply chain extended by 0.0247%. Second, the impact of nuclear energy development on the global supply chain length is significantly heterogeneous: for every 1% increase in nuclear energy, the forward correlation degree increases by 0.02%, and the backward correlation degree decreases by 0.0231%. Third, , the mechanism study found that the development of the nuclear industry can optimize the business environment, reduce per capita carbon emissions and improve human capital. In addition, a variety of robustness tests including geographical instrumental variables are also used in this paper, and the Fukushima nuclear leakage event is used as exogenous impact, and the empirical results are consistent. The research of this paper provides theoretical basis for optimizing the energy structure, and also provides policy guidance for the stability and security of China’s supply chain.