CGN teams up with shipbuilder for offshore plants

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

China General Nuclear (CGN) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China's largest shipbuilding company to work together on developing floating nuclear power plants.

The agreement was signed in the presence of CGN chairman He Yu and CSIC chairman Hu Wenming by CGN deputy general manager Tan Jiansheng and CSIC deputy general manager Qian Jianping (Image: CGN)

CGN announced yesterday that it had signed an agreement with China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) to "jointly promote cooperation on nuclear power offshore platform projects".

The development of CGN's ACPR50S reactor design was approved by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on 30 December as part of the 13th Five-Year Plan for innovative energy technologies.

CGN is currently carrying out preliminary design work for a demonstration ACPR50S project. Construction of the first floating reactor is expected to start next year, it said, with electricity generation to begin in 2020.

The 200 MWt (60 MWe) reactor has been developed for the supply of electricity, heat and desalination and could be used on islands or in coastal areas, or for offshore oil and gas exploration, according to CGN.

According to CGN's statement, CSIC has already designed two solutions for marine nuclear power platforms: one is for a nuclear power plant on a floating platform; the other is for a submersible nuclear power plant.

Earlier this month, CGN announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with China National Offshore Oil Corporation to cooperate in the development of nuclear technology for use in offshore oil fields.

Meanwhile, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) plans to build a demonstration floating nuclear power plant based on its ACP100S small reactor by 2019. The company recently announced the reactor design had also been approved by the NDRC as part of the same plan.

CNNC said its Nuclear Power Institute of China subsidiary has completed a preliminary design for a floating nuclear power plant featuring the ACP100S reactor as well as "all the scientific research work". Construction of a demonstration unit is to start by the end of this year, with completion set for 2019.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News