Construction starts on second Hualong One

China General Nuclear has started construction of its second Hualong One reactor - unit 4 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in western China. Pouring first concrete began on 23 December, "marking the official start of construction on another Hualong-1 demonstration power unit, China's first homegrown nuclear power plant", CGN said the following day.

China General Nuclear (CGN) has started construction of its second Hualong One reactor - unit 4 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in western China. Pouring first concrete began on 23 December, "marking the official start of construction on another Hualong-1 (HPR1000) demonstration power unit, China's first homegrown nuclear power plant", CGN said the following day.

Construction gets under way at Fangchenggang unit 4 (Image: CGN)

CGN now has 19 nuclear power units in operation with a total installed capacity of 20.38 GWe and nine under construction that total 11.36 GWe.

The Fangchenggang plant will act as a reference plant for CGN's Bradwell B Project in the UK, and "will demonstrate China's cutting-edge nuclear power technology to the international market", CGN said.

Fangchenggang is located near Hongsha village in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, about 45 kilometres from the border with Vietnam. A total of six large pressurized water reactors are planned to operate there. Units 1 and 2 are both CPR-1000s, units 3 and 4 will feature Hualong One reactors, and units 5 and 6 are to be AP1000s.

Construction of the first two units at the plant began in July and December 2010, respectively. Unit 1 was connected to the grid in October 2015 and entered commercial operation on 1 January. Unit 2 was connected to the grid in July.

First concrete was poured for the nuclear island of unit 3 of the Fangchenggang plant on 24 December 2015 and is expected to start up in 2019. Unit 4 is scheduled to start up in 2020.

The plant is 39% owned by Guangxi Investment Group and 61% owned by CGN.

"Upon completion, the plant will provide steady and clear power for the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, and also play a positive role in the control of air pollution," CGN said.

Once in operation, the first four Fangchenggang units are expected to generate 31.5 terawatts of electricity and avoid the use of 10.12 million tonnes of coal, thus reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 24.86 million tonnes, CGN added.

The units will also help decrease both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by 400,000 tonnes, it said.

"The plant's environmental benefit is equal to those of 725-square-kilometers of forests," it said, while the project has so far created more than 2800 jobs for Fangchenggang locals and Guangxi people.

There are now 21 reactors under construction in China with an installed capacity total of 24,106 MWe.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News