Changjiang 2 enters commercial operation

Monday, 15 August 2016

Unit 2 of the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China's southern island province of Hainan has entered commercial operation, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today.

Changjiang units 1 and 2 (Image: CNNC)

The company said the 650 MWe CNP-600 pressurized water reactor met all the conditions for entering commercial operation at 5.00pm on 12 August, having completed a 168-hour continuous demonstration run.

The reactor achieved first criticality on 9 June following the completion of loading 121 fuel assemblies into its core on 12 May. It was connected to the grid on 20 June.

Initial approval for construction of the Changjiang plant was granted by the National Developmental and Reform Commission in July 2008. Early site works began in December 2008. Construction of unit 1 began with the pouring of first concrete on 25 April 2010, while that for unit 2 was poured on 21 November 2010. Changjiang 1 achieved first criticality on 12 October 2015 and entered commercial operation in December.

The plant, near Hoi Mei Tong village in China's Hainan province, is being built as a joint venture between CNNC and China Huaneng Group, with shares split 51% and 49%, respectively. The plant will eventually comprise four units, with units 3 and 4 housing either CNP-650 or ACP-600 reactors. Construction of both those units is scheduled to begin by 2018.

CNNC has said that the first two Changjiang units will together provide almost one-third of the electricity needs of Hainan. By using nuclear power instead of coal-fired generation, the units will avoid the burning of some 300 million tonnes of coal and the resulting emission of about 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and 5.8 tonnes of sulfur dioxide, it claims.

Changjiang 2 becomes CNNC's 15th power reactor in commercial operation. It now has 12,162 MWe of generating capacity online. CNNC also has another nine units under construction and several more planned.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News