Construction start at Hainan plant

26 April 2010

The first concrete has been poured at the first unit of the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China's southern island province of Hainan, China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) announced.

 

Changjiang 1 first concrete (CNNC)
Construction of the Changjiang plant is underway (Image: CNNC)
 

A ceremony, attended by national and regional dignitaries and company representatives, was held on 25 April to mark the official start of construction of the plant. As a gun salute sounded, the first tank of concrete was poured into the foundations of Unit 1 of the Changjiang plant.

 

The Changjiang plant, near Hoi Mei Tong village, is being built as a joint venture between CNNC and China Huaneng Group. The plant will eventually comprise four 650 MWe CNP-600 pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and will be built in two phases. The second phase of the Qinshan nuclear power plant (Units 3 and 4) in Zhejiang province, which also comprises two CNP-600 units, will be used as the reference plant for the first two units at Changjiang.

 

Initial approval for the construction of the Changjiang plant was granted by China's National Developmental and Reform Commission (NDRC)in July 2008. Site works began in December 2008. The first unit is scheduled to begin operating by the end of 2014, while the second reactor should start up the following year. The total cost of the first two units is put at some 19 billion yuan ($2.8 billion). More than 70% of the equipment for the Changjiang plant is to be made in China.

 

According to CNNC, preliminary calculations show the construction of the nuclear power reactors on Hainan will reduce the province's consumption of coal by some 260 million tonnes annually, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by around 780 tonnes and soot emissions by 450 tonnes.

 

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News