Hongyanhe 6 starts supplying power to the grid

"At 1.42pm on 2 May, with the issuance of the grid-connecting order, Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Station unit 6 was successfully connected to the grid for the first time," CGN said. "This marks that unit 6 of the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Station has the power generation capacity, and has taken another key step towards the goal of commercial operation."

Construction of Phase I (units 1-4) of the plant, comprising four CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors, began in August 2009. Units 1 and 2 have been in commercial operation since June 2013 and May 2014, respectively, while unit 3 entered commercial operation in August 2015 and unit 4 in September 2016.

Phase II of the Hongyanhe plant - units 5 and 6 - comprises two 1080 MWe CGN-designed ACPR-1000 reactors. Construction of unit 5 began in March 2015 and that of unit 6 started in July the same year. Unit 5 achieved first criticality in June last year and entered commercial operation on 31 July.

The loading of the fuel into unit 6 began on 25 March this year and was completed on 28 March. The reactor achieved first criticality on 21 April. Unit 6 will enter commercial operation once it has completed a series of commissioning tests, including a test run lasting 168 hours.

The Hongyanhe plant is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Company, a joint venture between CGN and State Power Investment Corporation, each holding a 45% stake, with the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Co holding the remaining 10%.

CGN noted that, with the grid connection of Hongyanhe 6, it now has 26 power reactors generating electricity.