ASE contracted to build Tianwan phase 2

23 November 2010

A general contract has been signed for the construction of the second phase (units 3 and 4) of the Tianwan nuclear power plant at Lianyungang city in Jiangsu province, China.

 

Tianwan (CNNC)
Phase 1 at Tianwan will be joined by two further VVERs (Image: CNNC)
The contract between Russia's AtomStroyExport (ASE) and China's Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation (JNPC) was signed today in St Petersburg by ASE president Dan Belenky and JNPC CEO Jiang Goyuan.

 

The project to build Tianwan units 3 and 4 will be similar to the first stage of the power plant, comprising two Russian-designed 1060 MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors, with JNPC taking responsibility for the design and supply of non-nuclear components and equipment.

 

In October 2006, a preliminary agreement for phase 2 of the Tianwan plant was signed with ASE. Construction of units 3 & 4 was to start when both the first two units were commissioned, and hence in November 2007 a further agreement was signed. A framework contract for the construction of the second phase was signed by ASE and JNPC in March 2010. In September 2010, during a visit to China by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a contract was signed to develop the technical design of the two new Tianwan units.

 

Tianwan phase 1 was constructed under a 1992 cooperation agreement between China and Russia. First concrete was poured in October 1999, and the units were commissioned in June 2007 and September 2007 respectively. A two-year warranty operation period for Phase 1 expired in September 2009, and the plant was formally signed over earlier this year.

 

Fuel for the first two units' first cores, plus their first three reloads, was supplied by Russia's TVEL, but China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC's) main PWR fuel fabrication plant at Yibin, Sichuan province, is now responsible for producing the fuel for the VVERs using technology transferred from TVEL under the fuel supply contract.

 

JNPC was established in late 1997, mainly responsible for the construction and operation of the Tianwan plant. The corporation consists of following three shareholders: China National Nuclear Corporation (50%), China Power Investment Corporation (30%) and Jiangsu Guoxin Group (20%).

 

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News