China Nuclear News Weekly Roundup - 08/12 -08/16

CGN Added to the U.S. Entity List

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), a subsidiary agency ensuring export control under the U.S. Department of Commerce, ruled on August 14th to add CGN Power Group and its three subsidiaries to the Entity List. The decision was published on the Federal Register the same day. The four companies are: China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC), China General Nuclear Power Group, China Nuclear Power Technology Research Institute Co. Ltd., and Suzhou Nuclear Power Research Institute Co. Ltd. According to BIS, the reason behind is that the “four Chinese entities have engaged in or enabled efforts to acquire advanced U.S. nuclear technology and material for diversion to military use in China,” the same charge DOE used in last October to place any technology transfers to CGN under the 10 CFR Part 810 Export Control. The rule is an escalation of U.S. restrictions on U.S. enterprises’ business interactions with CGN. The Chinese civil nuclear SOE responded soon with a statement that “the impact is under control”. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also called the decision a misuse of export controls. “China resolutely opposes the U.S. side harming the interests of China and the world through unilateralist and protectionist policies,” said Ms. Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman from MoFA on last Thursday.

Two days earlier, CGNPC had its IPO at Shenzhen Stock Exchange on August 12th and sold out 2.525 billion shares in the A share market.

Tianwan Unit 5 Completes Hydraulic Testing for Secondary Coolant System

On the evening of August 8th, the hydraulic testing for Tianwan Unit 5’s secondary coolant system was completed successfully. This marks the completion of the installation phase for its CI primary piping. The milestone achieved paves the way for subsequent work like cold testing.

Construction of China’s First Medium-sized Tokamak Completed

“Xuanlong-50,” China’s first medium-sized ball-shape tokamak finished construction and achieved first plasma on August 8th in Langfang, Hebei Province.