Permits issued for construction of new Chinese plant

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the construction licences on 9 October to CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, the owner of Zhangzhou nuclear power project which was created by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%) in 2011. The licences are valid for 10 years.

The ministry said the submitted application documents complied with relevant national laws and nuclear safety regulations. It said the design principles and nuclear safety related activities at the Zhangzhou plant "meet the basic requirements of China's nuclear safety regulations, and the construction conditions are already in place".

The ministry has organised and supervised inspections of the on-site preparation of the nuclear island of Zhangzhou unit 1. It said the pouring of first concrete can take place once proposed "rectification requirements" have been completed and approved by the regulator.

"At present, your company is implementing rectification as required," the ministry said. "At the same time, the first tank of concrete of unit 2's nuclear island foundation is set as the control point." Once on-site preparation work for that unit's foundation has been inspected and approved, first concrete pouring can proceed, it said.

In May 2014, the local government gave approval for Phase I of the Zhangzhou plant, comprising two AP1000 units. The National Nuclear Safety Administration gave approval in December 2015 for the AP1000 units and confirmed site selection in October 2016. Construction of Phase I had originally been expected to start in May 2017. However, CNNC subsequently decided to use the Hualong One design instead. Two more Hualong One are planned for Phase II of the plant and a further two proposed for Phase III.

In late-2016, Germany's KSB Group was awarded a contract for six reactor coolant pumps for Zhangzhou 1 and 2, to be delivered in 2020 and 2021. In mid-2017, China Nuclear Industry No24 Construction Company won the contract for the nuclear island civil engineering. In February 2019, CNNC subsidiary China National Nuclear Power released its environmental impact assessment for public comment.

Hualong One reactors are currently under construction at Fuqing and Fangchenggang. Fuqing 5 and 6 are expected to start up in 2019 and 2020, as are Fangchenggang 3 and 4. The Hualong One promoted on the international market is called the HPR1000, two of which are under construction at Karachi in Pakistan.