Chinese units get their steam generators

Friday, 12 April 2013

The installation of steam generators is underway at two new nuclear power reactors in China: unit 3 of the Ningde plant and unit 2 of the Fangjiashan plant.

Ningde 3's steam generator is moved into an upright position before being lowered into place Image: CNECC)

Plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation (CNECC) announced that the first of three steam generators for Ningde 3 was successfully installed on 9 April. Installation of the component marks the start of putting all the heavy equipment in place at the unit.

Ningde 3 is one of four CPR-1000s being built as Phase I of the Ningde site in Fujian province. Construction on units 1 and 2 started in 2008 and units 3 and 4 were started in 2010. Unit 1 is due to start commercial operation later this year. All four units should be in operation before the end of 2015 and are expected to ease pressure on energy transport infrastructure in the congested coastal areas of China's southeast. Phase II will see two further CPR-1000 units built at Ningde.

The plant is 46% owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company and 44% by China Datang Corporation. The remaining 10% is held by Fujian Provincial Energy Group.

Installation of a steam generator at Fangjiashan 2 (Image: CNECC)

Meanwhile, the installation of steam generators is also being carried out by CNECC at another CPR-1000 project at China National Nuclear Corp's Fangjiashan site in Zhejiang province.

The Fangjiashan project will see two CPR-1000 reactors with a combined capacity of 2160 MWe constructed near the existing Qinshan plant. First concrete for the unit 1 at the Fangjiashan plant was poured in December 2008, while that for unit 2 was poured in July 2009. The scheduled start of commercial operation are December 2013 and October 2014, respectively.

The steam generators measure about 13 metres in length, 2.5 metres in diameter and weighing about 85 tonnes. Each CPR-1000 reactor system has three such steam generators.

The CPR-1000 is a standardized Chinese design developed from the two Areva PWRs imported for the Daya Bay plant in Guangdong province, starting up in 1994. Those units were built to the French three-loop standard, outputting 944 MWe. The CPR-1000 builds on that to produce 1080 MWe. The CPR-1000 is a mainstay of China's planned near-term nuclear capacity expansion, with 18 CPR-1000s already under construction.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News