Preparations continue for initial CAP1400 units

Construction of China's first two CAP1400 reactors at Shidaowan in Shandong province awaits final approval. However, site preparations for the units are well advanced with the pouring of concrete for the foundations of the first unit's conventional island having now begun.

Construction of China's first two CAP1400 reactors at Shidaowan in Shandong province awaits final approval. However, site preparations for the units are well advanced with the pouring of concrete for the foundations of the first unit's conventional island having now begun.

Work on the turbine building's foundation is under way (Image: SNPTC)

The first concrete for the turbine building of the first CAP1400 unit at the site was poured in the morning of 25 April, State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) announced.

A total of 4019 cubic metres of concrete was expected to be poured over the following 53 hours. The operation is being treated as a trial run for when the concrete is poured for the unit's nuclear island, SNPTC said.

The CAP1400 is an enlarged version of the AP1000 pressurized water reactor developed from the Westinghouse original by SNPTC with consulting input from the Toshiba-owned company. As one of China's 16 strategic projects under its National Science and Technology Development Plan, the CAP1400 is intended to be deployed in large numbers across the country. The reactor design may also be exported.

Huaneng Group's Shidaowan site is part of a larger Rongcheng Nuclear Power Industrial Park, at which two prototype 105 MWe HTR-PM small modular reactors are already under construction.

Huaneng is China's largest power generation company. The reactors at Shidaowan will be its first nuclear generation assets.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News