Doosan delivers to China

09 February 2009

South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries has manufactured and shipped a reactor pressure vessel to the Qinshan nuclear power plant in China, marking the company's first export sale of the key component.
 

Doosan - Qinshan RPV
A reactor pressure vessel destined for Qinshan (Image: Doosan)
The company has previously supplied steam generators, pressurizers and other nuclear power equipment to plants in the USA and China, including the existing Qinshan plant in Zhejiang province, but not the actual reactor pressure vessel which contains the uranium fuel assemblies of the reactor core. Doosan has contracts from Westinghouse and Shaw to supply similar coponents for four new AP1000 reactors in USA.
 
Doosan has now delivered the vessel for the sixth unit (the first of two units of the second stage of Phase II) of the Qinshan plant. The two reactors duplicate the indigenous CNP-600 units, upgraded to 650 MWe. Construction of Qinshan 6 and 7 was formally inaugurated at the end of April 2006, though first concrete had been poured for unit 6 in March. That for unit 7 was poured in January 2007. Local content of the two 650 MWe CNP-600 reactors will be more than 70%.
 
The sixth reactor at Qinshan is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2011, following a six-month period of installation and trial operation. The seventh is set to start in 2012. Doosan received the order for the Qinshan 6 reactor from China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) in August 2005.
 
Doosan has an agreement with CNNC for supply of heavy forgings and equipment for further projects in China, apparently in the 1000 MWe category. Among the projects commissioned by CNNC in China, Doosan supplied the steam generators for both Qinshan Phase III units (Qinshan 4 and 5), the reactor vessels for both Qinshan Phase II units (Qinshan 2 and 3), as well as equipment for the two AP1000 units at Sanmen and two at Haiyang. In April 2007, Doosan signed a $350 million contract with Westinghouse for two pressure vessels and four steam generators for two of the four AP1000 units under construction at Haiyang.
 
Doosan has received about $700 million worth of contracts from Westinghouse since May 2008 for nuclear reactors and other equipment. It also has an agreement with Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) related to expanding production of heavy components, for which there remains tightness of supply in the global nuclear market.
 
Doosan has announced plans to invest 405 billion won ($395 million) by the end of 2011 to increase production of parts for nuclear and other power equipment. The money will be used to expand casting and forging capabilities, including a 17,000 tonne forging press, at its facility in Changwon.
 
The company plans to increase production of castings from the current 210,000 tonnes to 300,000 tonnes by 2010, while forging capacity will be almost doubled from 100,000 tonnes to 190,000 tonnes per year.