China Nuclear News Weekly Roundup - 03/18 -03/22

HPR1000 New Builds Approved to be Built at Taipingling NPP in June

On March 18th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment published the results of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Taipingling Phase I NPP, which will feature 2 HPR1000 units. According to the report, Taipingling Unit 1 is planned to have its FCD in June 2019, with Unit 2’s FCD following ten months later. Following the two HPR1000 new builds approved for Zhangzhou Units 1&2 last month, these are the third and fourth nuclear new builds to receive approval for 2019. The total investment for Taipingling is about CNY 41.2 billion, approximately the same as that of Zhangzhou’s.

Four CNNC Nuclear Units Achieve Perfect Score for 2018 Performance

WANO has recently released their annual operation performance scores for nuclear power units around the world in 2018. Four CNNC units, namely Units 1&2 at Fangjiashan NPP (Qinshan Phase II Extension Project), Unit 4 at Qinshan Second NPP, and Tianwan Unit 2, were assigned a score of 100 and a first-place ranking.

Changjiang SMR Demonstration Project Planned to Begin Construction in December

CNNC has recently published a Second Notice on the Environmental Impact Assessment of Changjiang SMR Demonstration Project. The publication notes that the project will feature an ACP100 unit and its auxiliary facilities. The planned capacity for the unit is 125 MWe with thermal output power at 385 MWt. The SMR project is scheduled to have its FCD on December 31st, 2019 but the official date is still subject to the MEE’s approval. CNNC also projects that the project will take 65 months to build and the expected date for commercial operation is May 31st, 2025. One of the key objectives of the project is to explore the integrated utilization of nuclear power for electricity, heating, and air conditioning applications.

Self-developed Fuel Assembly Passes Post-Test Inspection

The CF3 fuel assembly, CNNC’s self-developed nuclear fuel, has recently completed irradiation testing at Unit 2 of Qinshan Phase II. The post-test examination shows that the fuel assembly performed well and meets the requirements to supply Gen III nuclear power units. This achievement paves a solid foundation for China’s own Gen III reactor design, HPR1000, to “go out”, as well as the international ambitions of China’s nuclear fuel industry.

Ex-core Nuclear Instrumentation Detectors for HPR1000 Successfully Developed

The locally developed ex-core nuclear instrumentation system for Fuqing Unit 5, the world’s first HPR1000 project, has recently passed receipt inspection. It is the first time for CNNC to deliver this technology based on fully proprietary intellectual property. It is another milestone on the path of localization of key Gen III civil nuclear technologies.