Vessel installed at third Tianwan unit

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

The Russian-supplied VVER-1000 reactor pressure vessel for the third unit of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province has been installed.

The vessel was hoisted vertically before being lowered into the reactor compartment (Image: CNEC)

The vessel - weighing almost 317 tonnes and measuring over 11 meters in length and 4.5 meters in diameter - was successfully located on its support ring within the containment building at 12:56pm on 22 May, plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) announced.

The pressure vessel was produced in Russia by OMZ subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody under a contract awarded in 2010 for the manufacture of the vessels for both Tianwan units 3 and 4.

Tianwan 3 and 4 will be AES-91 VVER-1000 units designed by Gidropress and supplied by Russian state firm Rosatom. AtomStroyExport is the main contractor, supplying the nuclear island. First concrete for unit 3 was poured in December 2012, while construction of a fourth began in September 2013. Unit 3 is scheduled to begin operating in February 2018. Two similar reactors (units 1 and 2) began operating at the site in 2007.

The Tianwan plant is owned and operated by Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation, a joint venture between China National Nuclear Corporation (50%), China Power Investment Corporation (30%) and Jiangsu Guoxin Group (20%).

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News