Grid connection for first Ling Ao II unit

Friday, 16 July 2010 China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co (CGNPC) announced that the first reactor of the Ling Ao II nuclear power plant was connected to the grid on 15 July and has now begun trial operation. The unit achieved first criticality on 9 June. Commercial operation of the 1080 MWe CPR-1000 is expected to begin in October. At that point it would become the 12th nuclear reactor to supply power to China and take total generating capacity close to 10 GWe. CGNPC noted the equipment localization rate for the this first unit reached about 50%, and a subsequent reactor at Ling Ao II should have 70% local content - including the first Chinese-made pressure vessel. The second CPR-1000 under construction at Ling Ao II is expected to be connected to the grid in June 2011, CGNPC said.