Alstom to provide Hongyanhe turbines

Friday, 24 August 2007 Alstom will supply the steam turbines to the four units at Hongyanhe Phase I, under a Eur135 million ($184 million) contract, it has been announced. Similar Alstom turbines are also to be used at Flamanville, France, and in Russia's new-build program.

The Hongyanhe units are to be CPR-1000s, a Chinese standard design evolved from the Areva-supplied pressurized water reactors at Lingao and Daya Bay. Construction on the first two has already begun, and a contract for a simulator for the same units was awarded recently.

Now it is known that Alstom will supply 1000 MWe-class Arabelle steam turbines for all four units. They will come complete with four-pole turbogenerators, condensers and moisture separator reheaters. The set-up is based on that currently being installed as part of the Lingao 2 extension project.

Alstom, an engineering group that spans Europe, has been an industrial partner with the main contractors on Hongyanhe - the Dong Fang group and China Nuclear Power Engineering Company - since cooperating on the construction of Daya Bay, in the late 1980s.

Patrick Kron, chair and chief executive of Alstom said: "This new order puts Alstom and its partner Dong Fang in a good position to continue to take part in the ambitious nuclear power generation program in China."

With varying degrees of certainty, Chinese planners foresee building about 20 CPR-1000 units as part of plan that could see nuclear generation rise as high as 160 GWe by 2030. Alstom also have agreements to supply Arabelle turbines for Russia's new-build program of 17 reactor units by 2020. A larger 1700 MWe-class version is destined for the Flamanville 3 EPR in France, the pilot unit of the design likely to replace the current French fleet in coming decades. The turbines for the EPR currently under construction in Olkiluoto, Finland, are being supplied by Siemens.

Further information

Alstom Power

WNA's Nuclear Power in China information paper

WNN: China shunts EPRs to Taishan
WNN: Simulator contract for Hongyanhe 1 and 2