Fuel loading completed at third Fuqing unit

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

The loading of all 157 fuel assemblies into the reactor core of unit 3 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province has been completed. The unit is expected to start up later this year.

Fuel loading operation under way at Fuqing 3 (Image: CNNC)

China's National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a licence on 1 April for fuel to be loaded into the reactor. The process began at 3.00am the following day and was completed on 4 April, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today.

CNNC's Fuqing plant will eventually house six Chinese-designed PWRs, the first four being 1087 MWe CPR-1000 pressurized water reactors. Unit 1 started up in July 2014, was connected to the grid the following month and entered commercial operation in November. Unit 2 achieved first criticality in July 2015 and entered commercial operation last October.

All 157 fuel assemblies are now in the unit's core (Image: CNNC)

Ground was broken in June 2009 for Fuqing unit 3 and 4. Containment pressure tests were successfully completed at unit 3 last August. Unit 3 is expected to start up later this year, 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. First concrete was poured for the fifth unit in May 2015, while that for unit 6 was poured in December. These will be demonstration indigenously-designed Hualong One reactors.

The Fuqing nuclear power plant project is owned by CNNC subsidiary China Nuclear Power Company (51%); Huadian Fuxin Energy Company (39%); and Fujian Investment and Development Group (10%).

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News