Construction of second Shidaowan Hualong One begins

Thursday, 8 May 2025

The company plans to construct four Hualong One reactors, in two phases, at Shidaowan with a total installed capacity of 4.8 GWe. 

China's State Council approved the construction of units 1 and 2 of the Shidaowan plant on 31 July 2023. First concrete for unit 1 was poured on 28 July 2024.

Once all four Hualong One units are completed, each unit will generate more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which can reduce standard coal consumption by 3.12 million tonnes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 8.16 million tonnes, according to China Huaneng.

The first of two demonstration Guohe One (CAP1400) reactors at the Shidaowan site was connected to the grid in November last year. The CAP1400 is an enlarged version of the CAP1000 pressurised water reactor developed from the Westinghouse AP1000, with consulting input from the USA-based company. The design is intended to be deployed in large numbers across the country, as well as for export.

The Shidaowan site is already home to the demonstration High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor-Pebble-bed Module (HTR-PM), which entered commercial operation in early December 2023. The HTR-PM features two small reactors that drive a single 210 MWe turbine. It is owned by a consortium led by China Huaneng (47.5%), with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) subsidiary China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (32.5%) and Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (20%), which is the research and development leader.

China Huaneng said that with the start of construction of the Shidaowan unit 2 Hualong One "the Phase I expansion project of Huaneng Shidao Bay Nuclear Power entered the full construction stage, and the construction of China's first comprehensive nuclear power base integrating third-generation and fourth-generation nuclear power technologies was further accelerated".

Article researched and written by WNN's Warwick Pipe