Steam generator installation underway at Karachi 2

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

The first of three steam generators has been installed at Karachi unit 2. The unit is the first of two Chinese-designed Hualong One nuclear power reactors being constructed at the site in Pakistan.

The first steam generator is lowered into place at Karachi 2 (Image: CNECC)

The operation to raise the steam generator - some 21 meters in length and weighing about 365 tonnes - over the reactor building and lower it into place began at 9.16am on 10 September. The task was completed later that day at 4.58pm, plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation (CNEC) announced yesterday.

China National Nuclear Corporation noted the main reactor equipment is being installed prior to the dome of the containment building being put in place. This approach, it said, can significantly reduce construction time, compared with the traditional method of installing equipment through a hatch in the containment.

In 2013, ground was broken for the first of the two Chinese-designed ACP1000 units at Karachi, sometimes known as K2 and K3, but this project stalled. A ceremony in August 2015 relaunched construction, which is now based on China's successor to the ACP1000, the Hualong One.

Construction began on unit 2 in 2015 and unit 3 in 2016, with commercial operation planned for 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Pakistan's Karachi Coastal station is the first export of Hualong One units. The Hualong One design is also being promoted for use at the Bradwell site in the UK.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News