Hongyanhe 1 enters commercial operation

Friday, 7 June 2013

The first of four reactors being built at the Hongyanhe plant in Liaoning province in northeast China has begun commercial operation. It becomes China's seventeenth operating nuclear power unit.

The four CPR-1000 units under construction at Hongyanhe (Image: CGNPC)

The 1080 MWe Chinese-designed pressurized water reactor officially entered commercial operation on 6 June after completing commissioning tests. The unit is said to be capable of supplying about one-quarter of the electricity demand of nearby Dalian City.

Hongyanhe 1 is the first of four CPR-1000 reactors currently being built at Hongyanhe. Its construction started in August 2007. Cold testing of the nuclear island of the unit was successfully completed in October 2012 and it achieved first criticality on 16 January. The unit was connected to the grid on 17 February.

Construction of the three other units there is progressing, with heat function tests at unit 2 nearing completion, and installation works at units 3 and 4 now 66% and 40% complete respectively. All four units should be in operation by the end of 2015.

The construction of Hongyanhe 1 has been completed with an equipment localization rate of about 75%. This is expected to increase to over 75% for unit 2, and to reach 80% in units 3 and 4.

The Hongyanhe plant is the first to be built in the northeast of China. It is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co, a joint venture in which China General Nuclear Power Co (CGNPC) and China Power Investment Corp (CPI) each hold a 45% stake, with the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Co holding the remaining 10%.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News