Civil construction completed at fifth Hongyanhe unit

Major civil engineering works have been completed at unit 5 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in China's Liaoning province with the installation of the dome of its containment building. China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Company Limited (CNI23) has announced that the operation to raise the dome - measuring 37 metres in diameter and 11m in height and weighing about 180 tonnes - and place it upon the containment building was completed at 7.02am today.

Major civil engineering works have been completed at unit 5 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in China's Liaoning province with the installation of the dome of its containment building. China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Company Limited (CNI23) has announced that the operation to raise the dome - measuring 37 metres in diameter and 11m in height and weighing about 180 tonnes - and place it upon the containment building was completed at 7.02am today.

The dome is moved into place at Hongyanhe 5 (Image: CNI23)

The unit - which CNI23 said has now "officially entered the full installation phase of construction" - is the first of two 1080 MWe CGN-designed ACPR-1000 reactors that will form the second phase of the Hongyanhe plant.

Construction of Phase I of the plant, comprising four CPR-1000 pressurized water reactors, began in August 2009. Units 1 and 2 have been in commercial operation since June 2013 and May 2014, respectively, while unit 3 entered commercial operation in August 2015 and unit 4 in September 2016.

A ceremony to mark the breaking of ground for Phase II of the Hongyanhe plant was held in July 2010. "Following a suspension in new reactor approvals and licensing in response to the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, CGN eventually received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission in March 2015 to build Hongyanhe units 5 and 6." This marked the first approval for new reactors in four years.

Construction of unit 5 began on 29 March 2015 and it is scheduled to start operations in November 2019, while unit 6 - construction of which started in July 2015 - is expected to start up in August 2020.

The Hongyanhe plant is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co, a joint venture between CGN and State Power Investment Corporation, each holding a 45% stake, with the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Co holding the remaining 10%.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News