China Nuclear News Weekly Roundup - 09/23 -10/11

Zhangzhou Units 1&2 Pour First Concrete

CNNP released a statement last Friday announcing that Zhangzhou Units 1&2, the two HPR1000 newbuilds, received greenlight from the National Nuclear Safety Administration to pour their first barrel of concrete on October 9th. The project’s approval status was publicly reconfirmed back in January this year, with the planned FCD originally scheduled for June 30th. This milestone for the Zhangzhou project marks only the second NPP project, after the 2017 FCD of the demonstration fast reactor at Xiapu, to pour concrete in more than three years and the only Gen III reactor begins construction after 2016. Worth noting is the fact that the HPR1000 demonstration projects at Fuqing units 5&6, are still under commissioning and not yet operational. This ‘fast-tracking’ of additional HPR1000 builds at Zhangzhou before the demonstration plan is complete is likely considered and justified as a new design demonstration project, since the Zhangzhou HPRs will be the first to fully integrate designs from the separate CNNC and CGN versions.  

China’s First Zero Power Lead-bismuth Eutectic Reactor Reaches Criticality

Qimingxing III (启明星III号), China’s first zero power lead-bismuth eutectic reactor, reached criticality on the morning of October 9th, 2019. This milestone means that the Gen IV fast neutron experimental reactor will now enters the next phase of engineering studies. The Pb-Bi reactor is a Gen IV reactor type, which has higher inherent safety, higher intensity of energy, and longer design life.  

Progress of Tianwan Units 5&6

Unit 5 – On September 6th, Unit 5’s diesel generator was initiated at the DA plant hall.  Measured performance indicators passed relevant requirements. On September 27th, all of Unit 5’s electrical testing was completed and testing results were reported as satisfactory.

Unit 6 – first RPV was installed on September 2nd; moisture separator reheaters for the conventional island were installed on September 4th; primary piping wielding was finished on the 24th and was tested to be 100% qualified; DCS system finished commissioning on 26th.

Fuel Assemblies Successfully Localized and Batch Production Realized

Four sets of CF3 fuel assemblies were loaded into Unit 4 of Qinshan Phase II on September 20th, following the 8 bundles already supplied to Fangjiashan Unit 2 earlier this year. 8 extras are to be supplied to Unit 1 of Qinshan Phase II power plant later this year. The CNNC-developed fuel assemblies are compatible with various reactor types designed by the company, including HPR1000, ACP100 (Linglong One), and the Yanlong low-temperature heating reactor.

CNNC Wins ITER-TAC1 Contract

CNNC has won a consortium contract for the ITER-TAC1 project, with the agreement signing ceremony held on September 30th. By signing the contract, a CNPE Consortium (China Nuclear Power Engineering; China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Company Ltd.; Southwestern Institute of Physics; Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences ASIPP; and Framatome) will be responsible for the TAC 1 Tokamak machine assembly. It is the largest nuclear energy project contract that a Chinese company has ever won in the European market, according to CNNC.