Construction begins on Tianwan 4

Friday, 27 September 2013

The pouring of first concrete today for another Russian-supplied reactor at the Tianwan site in China's Jiangsu province brings the total number of power reactors currently under construction in the country to 30.

First concrete is poured at Tianwan 4 (Image: CNNC)

Tianwan 4 will be an AES-91 VVER-1000 unit designed by Gidropress and supplied by Russian state firm Rosatom. Two similar units began operating at the site in 2007, while construction of a third began in December 2012. Each of the VVERs is rated to produce 1060 MWe, while up to four further potential units of similar size are foreseen at Tianwan by Chinese planners.

Under an August 2011 contract, Russia's AtomStroyExport is the main contractor, supplying the nuclear island worth about 30% of the project value. However, an Areva-Siemens instrumentation and control system will be used. Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation (JNPC) - a joint venture between China National Nuclear Corporation (50%), China Power Investment Corporation (30%) and Jiangsu Guoxin Group (20%) - is responsible for the remaining work: the civil engineering, turbine island with equipment and related infrastructure.

Tianwan units 3 and 4 - known as Tianwan Phase II - are scheduled to begin power generation in February 2018 and December 2018, respectively. The Tianwan plant is operated by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

The start of construction of Tianwan 4 closely follows that of unit 5 at the Yangjiang plant in Guangdong province. There are now 30 power reactors under construction in China, including a demonstration 210 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR) at Shidaowan in Shandong province.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News