China passes construction milestones

The reactor pressure vessel has been installed in the second AP1000 unit under construction at the Haiyang nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, first concrete has been poured for the foundation of the conventional island for the HTR-PM at Shidaowan.

The reactor pressure vessel has been installed in the second AP1000 unit under construction at the Haiyang nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, first concrete has been poured for the foundation of the conventional island for the HTR-PM at Shidaowan.

The reactor vessel for Haiyang 2 is lowered into the containment building (Image: CNEC)

The vessel was first raised from the ground to above the unit's containment building using a 3200-tonne crawler crane. The large component was then carefully lowered into position within the building. The operation began at 11.09am on 12 September and took less than two hours and twenty minutes to complete, plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) announced.

The reactor pressure vessel for Haiyang 2 - measuring around 10.3 metres long, with a diameter of about 6.5 metres and weighing some 274 tonnes - was manufactured by Shanghai Electric. The vessel for unit 1 was produced in South Korea by Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.

Phase I of the Haiyang plant in Shandong province, comprising two AP1000 units, was approved by the State Council on 23 September 2009. The following day, the National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a permit for the construction of the two reactors, and first concrete was poured within days. Haiyang 1 and 2 are expected to begin operating by the end of 2015 and in early 2016 respectively.

Two AP1000 units are also under construction at the Sanmen site in China's Zhejiang province. Sanmen unit 1 is expected to be the first AP1000 to begin operating. All four Chinese AP1000s are scheduled to be in operation by 2016. Third and fourth units are planned at both Sanmen and Haiyang.

Shidaowan concrete pour

Construction of the HTR-PM - a demonstration high-temperature gas-cooled reactor - is progressing at Shidaowan in China's Shandong province.

The foundation for the HTR-PM's conventional island is poured (Image: CNEC)

On 7 September, the pouring of first concrete for the foundation of the unit's conventional island took place. CNEC said that the milestone marks the end of civil works at the unit. The pouring of the concrete basemat for the HTR-PM's reactor building was completed at the end of March and construction of the reactor building itself is underway.

The demonstration plant's twin HTR-PM units will drive a single 210 MWe turbine. It is expected to begin operating around 2017. Eighteen further units are proposed for the Shidaowan site, near Rongcheng in Weihai city.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News