First criticality for Fangjiashan 2
Unit 2 of the Fangjiashan plant in China's Zhejiang province has moved closer to commissioning by achieving a sustained chain reaction.Unit 2 of the Fangjiashan plant in China's Zhejiang province has moved closer to commissioning by achieving a sustained chain reaction.
.jpg "Fangjiashan 2 first criticality 460 (CNNC)") |
| Operators in the control room bring Fangjiashan 2 to first criticality (Image: CNNC) |
The 1080 MWe CPR-1000 reactor achieved first criticality at 4.36pm on 25 December, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced.
The first of 157 fuel assemblies was loaded into unit 2's core on 3 December.
Trial operation of the reactor will now begin, during which many tests will be carried out. The unit is scheduled to enter commercial operation in October 2015.
The Fangjiashan project comprises two CPR-1000 reactors with a combined capacity of 2160 MWe constructed near the existing Qinshan plant. First concrete for the unit 1 at the Fangjiashan plant was poured in December 2008, while that for unit 2 was poured in July 2009. Unit 1 was connected to the grid on 4 November this year and was declared to be in commercial operation earlier this month.
The project is 72% owned by CNNC, with the remainder held by Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group Co Ltd. Built by China Nuclear Power Engineering Company, the Fangjiashan plant is said to have an equipment localization rate of some 80%.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
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