Construction starts on two new Chinese units

Monday, 29 July 2024

The construction of Ningde units 5 and 6 and Shidaowan 1 and 2 - together with units 1 and 2 of the Xudabao plant in Liaoning Province - was approved by China's State Council on 31 July last year.

China General Nuclear (CGN) announced that first concrete for the nuclear island of Ningde 5 was poured at 10.58 am on 28 July "marking the official start of the main construction of the Hualong One unit and the full start of the construction of the second phase of the Ningde nuclear power project".

CGN noted Ningde was the first nuclear power plant to be constructed and put into operation in Fujian Province. The plant currently comprises four 1018 MWe CPR-1000 reactors, which began commercial operation between April 2013 and July 2016.

"The construction of units 5 and 6 of the Ningde Nuclear Power Project Phase II will further increase the proportion of clean energy in Fujian Province and inject stronger clean energy support into the high-quality economic and social development of Fujian Province," said Tian Huiyu, general manager of Fujian Ningde Nuclear Power Company Limited.

China Huaneng also announced that first concrete had been poured for the nuclear island of unit 1 at the Shidaowan plant on 28 July.

First concrete is poured for Shidaowan 1 (Image: China Huaneng)

The company said the unit is its "first fully independently built large-scale pressurised water reactor nuclear power project".

The Shidaowan site is already home to the demonstration High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor-Pebble-bed Module (HTR-PM), which entered commercial operation in early December last year. The HTR-PM features two small reactors that drive a single 210 MWe turbine. It is owned by a consortium led by China Huaneng (47.5%), with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) subsidiary China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (32.5%) and Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (20%), which is the research and development leader.

China Huaneng said the start of construction of the Shidaowan unit 1 Hualong One "marks that Huaneng Shidaowan has become a nuclear power base that uses both the latest independent third-generation nuclear power technology and fourth-generation advanced nuclear power technology".

China Huaneng plans to construct four Hualong One reactors, in two phases, at Shidaowan with a total installed capacity of 4.8 GWe. The construction of the two units of the first phase is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in 2029.

"After the project is completed, it will provide Shandong with about 20 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity each year, reduce the burning of 5.78 million tonnes of standard coal, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 14 million tonnes, sulphur dioxide by 45,000 tonnes, and nitrogen oxides by 40,000 tonnes," the company noted.

Construction started of the nuclear island for unit 1 at China National Nuclear Corporation's Xudabao plant in November 2023, with the pouring of first concrete for unit 2 following earlier this month. Those two units will feature CAP1000 reactors - the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000.