*BEIJING:* China General Nuclear Power Group is building nuclear stationin Karachi.This is the part of the world’s first AP1000 third-generationnuclear unit started fueling in east China’s Zhejiang Province, amuch-awaited landmark in China’s actualisation of the advanced technology,bringing the country a step closer to the mass-production and export of thethird-generation nuclear facilities.
Permitted by National Nuclear Safety Administration of China, 157 fuelassemblies were loaded into the honeycomb core of the 1250 MW No.1 unitreactor of Sanmen Nuclear Power Station, marking the start of the plant’strial run.
Qian Zhimin, Chairman of energy behemoth State Power Investment Corporation(SPIC), lead developer and contractor of the project, has vowed to put theunit into operation this year.
SPIC introduced the third-generation pressurised water reactor designAP1000 (AP = Advanced Passive) from the US company Westinghouse ElectricCorporation in November 2006. Since then, China has built two AP1000 unitsin Sanmen and another two units in Haiyang, east China’s Shandong Province.
The Sanmen project is of great significance to China’s nuclear energydevelopment.
The AP1000 is the world’s safest reactor technology for the commercialpurpose. It is designed to passively cool itself during an accidentalshutdown, theoretically avoiding accidents like those at Ukraine’sChernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear PowerPlant.
If all goes well at the Sanmen facility, China could unleash a wave ofapprovals for new reactors. Bloomberg has reported that SouthAfrica, India, Mexico, and the Czech Republic are among the countries thatare considering the design, and are more likely to adopt it once China hastaken the first, crucial step.
SPIC and China National Nuclear Corporation jointly started construction onthe Sanmen nuclear plant in April 2009. The plant is designed to hold six1250 MW reactors, with altogether 7.5 GW installed capacity.
What is notable for China, over 55 % of the facilities are produced bydomestic firms. More than 40 Chinese manufacturers, including DongfangElectric and China National Erzhong Group, have broken technicalbottlenecks to localise the production of key equipment such as pressurevessels, steam generators. China National Nuclear Corp created the firstfuel assembly line for AP1000 power plants, capable of supporting massproduction of the fuel. These signs of progress have paved the way forfurther deployment of such facilities in China and around the world.
The introduction of China’s AP1000 arose from a larger ambition to make itsown reactor from practising and absorbing foreign technology.
With the culmination of 20,000 scientists and technicians from multiplestate energy companies over ten years, China has now crystallised theCAP1400 (C = China) reactor design, an upgraded version of the AP1000 witha capacity scaled up to 1400 MW and a more stable and safer design. Moreimportantly, China owns the intellectual property right of the CAP1400.
Currently, the engineering work is steadily making progress. SPIC hasdeveloped its indigenous simulated digital control system for the CAP1400nuclear model, NuSIM, which simulates the normal operations and possibleemergencies of a nuclear power station, and can be used to train futurenuclear station operators.
According to SPIC, the company is building two CAP1400 reactors in ademonstration area located in Shidao Bay of Rongcheng City ineast China’s Shandong Province. As much as 85% percent of equipment in theRongcheng nuclear project will be made in China.
In May 2016, CAP1400 successfully passed the International Atomic EnergyAgency’s (IAEA) Generic Reactor Safety Review, opening the door to exportsand the deployment of the advanced reactor design.
SPIC has teamed up with 160 companies from both home and abroad to build aglobal supply chain of AP1000 and CAP1400 equipment, making it a powerfulinternational marketer of such models.
China’s homegrown third-generation design, Hualong One, has already carvedout a spot overseas, making China one of the few countries to supportresearch consultancy, big-volume construction, operation service support,as well as other related services. – Agencies