Dome in place at fourth Fuqing unit

Installation of the reactor dome on the containment building marks the end of major civil engineering works at Fuqing 4. The four units at the plant in China's Fujian province are all due to start up by mid-2016.

Installation of the reactor dome on the containment building marks the end of major civil engineering works at Fuqing 4. The four units at the plant in China's Fujian province are all due to start up by mid-2016.

The dome of Fuqing 4 is lowered into place (Image: CNNC)

Plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation reported that the dome - weighing 165 tonnes - was successfully lowered into place at 6.26am today. The operation took just over one hour.

China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC's) Fuqing plant will eventually feature six units. The first four are Chinese-designed 1087 MWe CPR-1000 pressurized water reactors, while units 5 and 6 will be either 1100 MWe ACP1000 or 1150 MWe ACC1000 units.

Construction of Fuqing 1 started in November 2008 and it is scheduled to begin operating within the next few weeks. Unit 2, construction of which began in June 2009, is expected to start up in September. Ground was broken for Fuqing unit 3 and 4 in June 2009. Those reactors should begin operation in mid-2015 and mid-2016, respectively.

In addition to the Fuqing plant, four other six-unit plants based on domestically-designed reactors are currently under various stages of construction in China as part of the country's nuclear energy expansion. The others include Fangchenggang, Hongyanhe, Ningde and Yangjiang.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News