Contract for Tianwan III nuclear islands

A contract has been signed for the civil construction of the nuclear islands of Phase III of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province. Construction of unit 5 has already begun, while that of unit 6 is scheduled to start next year.

A contract has been signed for the civil construction of the nuclear islands of Phase III of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province. Construction of unit 5 has already begun, while that of unit 6 is scheduled to start next year.

The contract signing ceremony (Image: CNEC)

The contract was signed by China Nuclear Power Engineering general manager Liu Wei and China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction general manager Chen Baozhi at a ceremony held on 17 June in Nanjing. China Nuclear Power Engineering is a subidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction is part of China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC).

Construction of Tianwan 5 and 6 was originally scheduled to start in early 2011. However, following the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, the Chinese government suspended the approval of new nuclear power projects. The Tianwan Phase III units were amongst those suspended.

However, the latest Five-Year Plan calls for construction of Phase III of the Tianwan plant in Jiangsu province to be accelerated. The State Council gave its approval for Tianwan units 5 and 6 - both featuring 1080 MWe ACPR1000 reactors - on 16 December 2015. First safety-related concrete was poured for unit 5 on 27 December. Unit 5 is expected to enter commercial operation in December 2020 and unit 6 in October 2021.

Tianwan Phase I - units 1 and 2 - was constructed under a 1992 cooperation agreement between China and Russia. First concrete was poured in October 1999, and the units were commissioned in June 2007 and September 2007 respectively. Tianwan Phase II - units 3 and 4 - will be similar to the first stage of the Tianwan plant, comprising two Russian-designed 1060 MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors. First concrete for unit 3 was poured in December 2012, while construction of the fourth unit began in September 2013. Construction of unit 4 entered the equipment installation phase, following placement on 26 September last year of its containment dome. These units are expected to start operation this year and next, respectively.

The Tianwan plant is owned and operated by Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation, a joint venture between CNNC (50%), China Power Investment Corporation (30%) and Jiangsu Guoxin Group (20%).

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News