Grid connection for second Fangchenggang unit

Monday, 18 July 2016

Unit 2 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in China's Guangxi province started supplying electricity to the grid on 15 July, China General Nuclear (CGN) announced the following day.

Workers in Fangchenggang 2's control room look on as the unit is connected to the grid (Image: CGN)

Fangchenggang is located near Hongsha village in the Guangxi Autonomous Region in western China, about 45 kilometres from the border with Vietnam. A total of six large pressurized water reactors are planned to operate there. Units 1 and 2 are both CPR-1000s, units 3 and 4 will feature Hualong One reactors, and units 5 and 6 are to be AP1000s.

Construction of the first two units at the Fangchenggang plant began in July and December 2010, respectively. Unit 1 was connected to the grid last October and entered commercial operation on 1 January. The loading of fuel assemblies into the core of unit 2 was completed on 24 May and the reactor achieved first criticality on 28 June.

CGN said Fangchenggang 2 was connected to the grid at 1.30am on 15 July. The unit will now undergo a load test run and other relevant testing before entering full-power demonstration operation. It is scheduled to enter commercial operation by the end of this year.

According to CGN, the first two Fangchenggang units will supply some 15 billion kilowatt-hours of "safe, clean, economical power" annually to the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone. This, it says, will avoid the use of 4.82 million tonnes of coal and cut carbon dioxide emissions by almost 12 million tonnes.

Phase I of the Fangchenggang plant - units 1 and 2 - has been built with a localization rate of more than 80%, CGN said.

Construction of Fangchenggang 3 began in December 2015, while construction of unit 4 is scheduled to begin later this year. These two units are expected to start up in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

The plant is 39% owned by Guangxi Investment Group and 61% owned by CGN.

With the grid connection of Fangchenggang 2, CGN now has 17 reactors in operation with a combined generating capacity of 18.17 GWe and a further eight units currently under construction.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News