Fuel loading completed at Fuqing 2

Monday, 18 May 2015

The loading of fuel assemblies into the reactor core of unit 2 at the Fuqing plant in China's Fujian province has been completed in preparation for startup.

The final fuel assembly is loaded into Fuqing 2's core (Image: CNNC)

The first fuel assemblies were loaded into the reactor on 15 May, the same day approval was given by the National Nuclear Safety Administration.

A total of 157 fuel assemblies were loaded into the CPR-1000 in a process taking just over 40 hours to complete, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today.

Construction of Fuqing 2 began in June 2009. It is expected to start up in the next few months.

Unit 1 started up in July 2014, was connected to the grid the following month and entered commercial operation in November.

CNNC's Fuqing plant will eventually house six Chinese-designed pressurized water reactors. Ground was broken in June 2009 for Fuqing unit 3 and 4, which will also feature CPR-1000 reactors. Unit 3 should begin operation in late-2015, while unit 4 is scheduled to start up in 2017.

China's State Council gave final approval for construction of Fuqing units 5 and 6 in mid-April. Earlier this month, first concrete was poured for the fifth unit. This will be a demonstration Hualong One reactor.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News