China contracts GE to provide services to Daya Bay plants

USA-based GE is to provide services to the steam turbines, generators and auxiliary systems of the nuclear power plants on the Daya Bay site in China under a 12-year agreement signed with the site's operating company.

USA-based GE is to provide services to the steam turbines, generators and auxiliary systems of the nuclear power plants on the Daya Bay site in China under a 12-year agreement signed with the site's operating company.

The Daya Bay plant (Image: DNMC)

Comprising the Daya Bay plant and Phase I and II of the Ling Ao plant, the Daya Bay site is the first large commercial nuclear power base in mainland China. Daya Bay was the first nuclear power plant to be constructed in China and has been in operation for over 22 years. It was originally built with Alstom. The six 1000 MWe pressurised water reactors on the site - 50 kilometres to the northeast of Hong Kong in mainland China's Guangdong province - are managed and operated by the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Company (DNMC).

GE says it has collaborated with DNMC over the past 30 years. The company said that since its acquisition of Alstom's power business in 2015, it has expanded its total plant solutions portfolio and has added significant new technology capabilities for nuclear power plants.

GE announced today that its Power Services business has signed a 12-year agreement with DNMC under which it will provide services including the supply of spare parts, engineering support, on-site service, repair and life extension for the steam turbines of the six units at Daya Bay.

Xu Xin, general manager of GE's Power Services business in China, said: "We collaborate with our customers to tailor multi-year agreement (MYA) solutions that are unique to their needs. Each MYA solution is customised to meet the unique needs of different power plants. Our goal is to bring long-term value to power plants, like the Daya Bay nuclear plant, with agreements focused on key metrics for the equipment such as availability, operational flexibility and efficiency."

He added, "The signing of this MYA continues GE and Daya Bay's cooperation and marks a new milestone in our long-lasting, win-win relationship. GE is committed to doing its part to contribute to the economic and social development of Guangdong and Hong Kong."

Hong Kong gets much of its power from mainland China, in particular about 80% of the output from Daya Bay's 1888 MWe net nuclear capacity is sent there. Hong Kong utility China Light & Power has a 25% equity stake in the Daya Bay plant. The Hong Kong government plans to close down its coal-fired plants, and by 2020 to get 50% of its power from mainland nuclear, up from the current 23%.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News