Ruijin HTR plant proposal progresses

A proposal to construct two 600 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTRs) at Ruijin city in China's Jiangxi province has passed a preliminary feasibility review, China Nuclear Engineering Corporation recently announced.

A proposal to construct two 600 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTRs) at Ruijin city in China's Jiangxi province has passed a preliminary feasibility review, China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) recently announced.

CNEC signed a strategic cooperative framework agreement with the Ruijin city government in October 2013 for the construction of a nuclear power plant based on HTR reactors. A project company - Ruijin Nuclear Engineering HTR NPP Company Limited - was established in early November 2014.

In a 20 April statement, CNEC said the proposal successfully completed a pre-feasibility study 10 days earlier. The next step is for the company and Jiangxi province to present a project proposal to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) with the aim of including the construction of the inland Ruijin HTRs in the national development plan. Once NDRC approval has been received, groundwork and the construction of ancillary facilities can be carried out simultaneously, CNEC said. The National Nuclear Safety Administration also has to approve the project.

The Jiangxi provincial development and reform commission has already given the go-ahead to begin preliminary work at Ruijin and construction of the reactors is expected to start in 2017, with grid connection in 2021.

A model of a 600 MWe HTR plant, comprising three 200 MWe modules, on display in Shanghai last week (Image: François Morin, WNA)

The design of the Ruijin HTRs is based on the smaller demonstration HTR-PM under construction at Shidaowan near Weihai city in Shandong province. That plant will initially comprise twin HTR-PM reactor modules driving a single 210 MWe steam turbine. Construction started in late 2012. CNEC said civil construction work on the HTR-PM is nearing completion and equipment installation would soon begin. The demonstration unit is scheduled to start commercial operation in late 2017.

China Huaneng is the lead organization in a consortium to build the demonstration units together with CNEC and Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET), which is the research and development leader.

CNEC said construction of the units at Ruijin "is an important step on the road towards commercial promotion of the HTR, and lays a solid foundation for the smooth development of China's first commercial high-temperature reactor power plant project".

CNEC said it has been working with Tsinghua University since 2003 on the design, construction and commercialisation of HTR technology. The partners signed a new agreement in March 2014 aimed at furthering cooperation in both international and domestic marketing of the advanced reactor technology.

CNEC said it is actively promoting its HTR technology overseas and has already signed memoranda of understanding with Dubai, Saudi Arabia and South Africa to consider the construction of such units.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News