Uprated Chinese reactor returns to grid
Unit 2 of Phase II of the Qinshan nuclear power plant in China's Zhejiang province has been reconnected to the grid following a refuelling and maintenance outage during which the unit's net electrical power has been increased by 33 MW.
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According to Qinshan Nuclear Power - a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation - a total of 8473 tasks were completed during the latest scheduled outage. These included an in-service inspection of pressure vessels; a containment pressure test; a 20-year inspection of the emergency diesel engines; modernisation of both main and auxiliary turbine generators; a capacity increase of the generators and the main transformers; and an upgrade of the nuclear island and conventional island switchboards.
As part of the work, the stator of the generator of unit 2 was replaced, marking the first time that a stator has been replaced at a Chinese nuclear power plant.
These tasks "lay a solid foundation for the safe and stable operation of the unit in the next cycle", it said.
Qinshan Nuclear Power added: "Subsequently, Qinshan II unit 2 will steadily increase power and complete relevant tests on various power platforms. It will reach the transformation design power on 25 March, with the [net] electric power increased from 670 MW to 703 MW, equivalent to an additional 33,000 kWh of electricity per hour."
Qinshan is China's largest nuclear power plant, comprising seven reactors. Construction of Phase I of the plant - a 300 MWe pressurised water reactor (PWR) which was the first indigenously-designed Chinese nuclear power station to be built - began in 1985, with the unit entering commercial operation in 1994.
Qinshan Phase II is home to four operating CNP-600 PWRs, built with a high degree of localisation. Units 1 and 2, comprising the first stage of Phase II, began operating in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Units 3 and 4 entered commercial operation in October 2010 and April 2021. Phase III consists of two 750 MWe pressurised heavy water reactors supplied by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd and commissioned in 2002 and 2003.
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