CAP1400 preliminary safety review approved

Tuesday, 9 September 2014

The Chinese nuclear regulator has approved the preliminary safety analysis report of the CAP1400 reactor design following a 17-month review.

An artist's impression of how two CAP1400 units would look at Shidaowan (Image: SNPTC)

Approval of the review was formally announced at a 2 September meeting in Beijing organized by China's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). More than 180 people attended the meeting, including representatives of the environmental protection department of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Centre, the Beijing Nuclear Safety Evaluation Centre, Suzhou Nuclear Safety Centre, State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) and the China Nuclear Power Research Institute.

NNSA's safety review for the CAP1400 began in March 2013 and has involved more than 260 experts, 30 meetings to discuss it and responding to more than 5000 questions, according to SNPTC. As a result of the review, more than 1000 work orders were drawn up.

The CAP1400 is an enlarged version of the AP1000 pressurized water reactor developed from the Westinghouse original by SNPTC with consulting input from the Toshiba-owned company. As one of China's 16 strategic projects under its National Science and Technology Development Plan, the CAP1400 is intended to be deployed in large numbers across the country. The reactor design may also be exported.

Site preparation is already underway for two demonstration CAP1400 units at Huaneng Group's Shidaowan site in Shandong province. The pouring of first concrete is expected to take place by the end of the year. This site is part of a larger Rongcheng Nuclear Power Industrial Park, at which the prototype HTR-PM small modular reactor is already under construction. Another 19 of the 210 MWe units could follow.

Huaneng is China's largest power generation company. The reactors at Shidaowan will be its first nuclear generation assets.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News