China’s State Council has approved two AP1000 nuclear reactor units for State Power Investment Corp.’s (SPIC’s) Lianjiang Nuclear Power Plant in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, reactor technology supplier Westinghouse said on Oct. 12.
If built, the units will become ninth and tenth reactors based on Westinghouse’s Generation III+ advanced reactor technology in China. Four AP1000 units are already currently operating in China: Sanmen 1 and 2 in Zhejiang province and Haiyang 1 and 2 in Shandong province. The four reactors were commissioned in 2018.
Another four CAP1000 reactors—China’s licensed adaptation of the AP1000—are under construction at the Sanmen and Haiyang plants. Sanmen 3 and 4. China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) kicked off construction of the second phase at Sanmen in June 2022, while Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI), a SPIC affiliate, poured first concrete for Haiyang’s second phase in July 2022. The State Council approved the two projects in April. By Sept. 25, SNERDI, a general contractor for both projects, reported it had separately hoisted in place containment vessels at Haiyang 3 and Sanmen 3.
SNERDI is also building CAP1000s at Lianjiang 1 and 2. The company on Sept. 28 announced it began excavation for the Lianjiang plant’s first phase. The site is designed to host a total of six 1.2-GW reactors, said SNERDI.
Speeding Toward ‘Nth-of-a-Kind’
Westinghouse in a statement congratulated SPIC on adding the AP1000-derived plants to its growing fleet. It said the AP1000 plant “is the only operating Generation III+ advanced reactor with fully passive safety systems, modular design, and has the smallest footprint per MWe on the market.” The reactors at Sanmen and Haiyang “utilize the most advanced, proven technology and have set industry records with their outstanding startup, availability, and operational performance. One unit at the Haiyang site is generating both electricity and steam for district heating,” it noted.
