Fuel loading completed at Chinese unit

07 September 2015

The loading of fuel into the core of unit 1 at the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in China's Guangxi province was completed on 6 September. The unit is expected to start up by the end of this year.

Fangchenggang 1 fuel loading - 460 (CGN)
Fuel loading operations at Fangchenggang 1 (Image: CGN)

A total of 157 fuel assemblies have been loaded into the CPR-1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) since the plant received permission to load fuel from the National Nuclear Safety Adminstration on 2 September.

Plant owner China General Nuclear (CGN) noted that, unlike its other nuclear power plants, the fuel loading machine at Fangchenggang 1 was supplied by its China Nuclear Power Technology Research Institute subsidiary. This marks the first deployment of the machine. The institute is also to supply fuel handling machines for unit 2 at Fangchenggang and units 5 and 6 of CGN's Yangjiang plant.

Fangchenggang is located near Hongsha village in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, about 45 kilometres from the border with Vietnam. A total of six reactors are planned to operate there. Units 1 and 2 are CPR-1000s, units 3 and 4 are planned to be the evolutionary ACPR-1000 development, and units 5 and 6 are to be AP1000s. All of these are models of large PWRs.

Construction of the first two units at the Fangchenggang plant began in July 2010. Units 1 and 2 are scheduled to begin operation this year and next year, respectively.

The plant is 39% owned by Guangxi Investment Group and 61% owned by CGN.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News