Construction of first unit at Lianjiang under way

The construction of the first two 1250 MWe CAP1000 reactors - the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 - at the Lianjiang site was approved by China's State Council in September 2022. Excavation works for the units began in the same month.

The pouring of the first concrete for the foundation of unit 1's nuclear island was completed at 4.58pm on 29 September after 53 hours of "continuous hard work", State Power Investment Corp (SPIC) announced. It said the milestone marks "the first phase of the project entering a new stage of construction".

SPIC noted the concrete pouring was completed 7 hours ahead of schedule. "Among the four units approved in the same period, it was the first to achieve FCD [first concrete pouring], and set a record for the shortest FCD process among units of the same type," the company said.

The foundation of the nuclear island of Lianjiang 1 (Image: SPIC)

Lianjiang unit 1 is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2028.

Once all six CAP1000 units at the site are completed, the annual power generation will be about 70.2 TWh, which will reduce standard coal consumption by over 20 million tonnes, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 52 million tonnes, sulphur dioxide by about 171,000 tonnes and nitrogen oxides by about 149,000 tonnes.

SPIC noted the Lianjiang plant will be the first nuclear power project in China to adopt seawater secondary circulation cooling technology as well as the first to use a super-large cooling tower.