China Civilian Nuclear Industry, Technology, Exports and Supply Chain: News & Discussions

[JSCh]

China’s nuke firms vow self-reliance
By Yang Sheng Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/14 21:23:39

US restrictions ‘won’t affect UK project’

Photo taken on March 21, 2018 shows the installation site of a hemispherical dome at the No. 6 unit of China National Nuclear Corporation's Fuqing nuclear power plant in Southeast China's Fujian Province. In May 2017, a containment dome was installed on the No. 5 unit of the nuclear power plant, the first reactor featuring the Hualong One design. Photo: Xinhua

China's major State-owned nuclear industrial enterprises said they will confidently deal with the new US restrictions on nuclear exports to China, stressing that China's nuclear development is self-reliant, and that the restrictions won't have an impact on the UK nuclear power station project. They also said they may use legal ways to safeguard their legitimate interests.

Chinese analysts said on Sunday that Chinese State-owned nuclear enterprises "are not like ZTE" and won't be harmed too much by US restrictions, and the Donald Trump administration is just cutting off the opportunity for US nuclear companies to enter the Chinese market.

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) responded on their WeChat accounts on Friday and Saturday respectively, after the Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would sharply restrict exports of civilian nuclear technology to China.

Thursday's New York Times report said the Trump administration's announcement mixed security warnings with longstanding complaints that China "was continuing to steal nuclear-related technology from American firms to benefit Chinese state-owned companies."

The US said China is "actively pursuing our advanced nuclear technology for diversion to military use in its third-generation nuclear power submarine, in the development of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and in strategic dual use nuclear-powered platforms, such as small modular reactors and floating nuclear power plants deployable in the South China Sea," CNN reported Friday.

CGN said on its Weibo account on Saturday that "We don't understand if the allegations made by the US are based on proven facts or a judicial decision which has already taken effect." But no matter what, "they are all groundless," and CGN "reserves the right to take legal action to protect its legitimate interests."

The civil and military nuclear technologies use very different standards, and it is impossible and unrealistic for China to boost its military nuclear projects through China-US nuclear cooperation, said Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator.

"The US announcement is just another move that hypes the 'China threat theory,' which is totally groundless. Without US imports, China will still cooperate with other partners like France and Russia, and the Trump administration is just shutting down a business opportunity for US nuclear companies in the Chinese market," Song told the Global Times on Sunday.

"CGN and CNNC are not like ZTE. They are very self-reliant so they won't be bullied," a Beijing-based expert on the nuclear industry, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"But they need to prepare a back-up plan if US restrictions have an impact on China's cooperation with other countries," the expert said.

Strong self-reliance

CGN also said on its Weibo account that cooperation on the nuclear power station with the UK won't be affected. "The ongoing project in the UK does not use US nuclear technologies" and China's exports of nuclear technologies is under strict supervision. "We will continue to push the nuclear project in the UK together with our partners."

CGN and CNNC are pushing the nuclear projects Hinkley Point C and Bradwell nuclear power stations in the UK. The two leading Chinese nuclear enterprises are jointly promoting an advanced third-generation nuclear reactor known as the "Hualong One" (or Huanglong-1) to overseas clients. CGN aims to deploy the technology at the project in Bradwell, China Global Television Network reported on Sunday.

CNNC said on its WeChat account on Friday that "Huanglong One is based on third-generation nuclear power technology with China's independent property rights," its "localization rate exceeds 85 percent, and does not rely much on US imports, so the new US restrictions won't affect the Huanglong One."

 

[JSCh]

Fourth Chinese AP1000 connected to grid
15 October 2018

The Haiyang 2 AP1000 in China has been connected to the electricity grid. Meanwhile, Sanmen 1 - which last month became the first AP1000 to begin commercial operation - has entered the guarantee period.

Haiyang 1 and 2 (Image: SNPTC)​

In September 2007, Westinghouse and its partner the Shaw Group received authorisation to construct four AP1000 units in China: two at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and two more at Haiyang in Shandong province. Construction of Sanmen 1 began in April 2009, while first concrete for Sanmen 2 was poured in December 2009. Construction of Haiyang 1 and 2 began in September 2009 and June 2010, respectively.

Sanmen 1 was the world's first AP1000 to start up, achieving first criticality on 22 June and grid connection on 2 July. It reached full power operation for the first time on 14 August and completed a full-power demonstration test run on 21 September. Sanmen 2 attained first criticality on 17 August and was grid connected a week later. The unit is expected to enter commercial operation by the end of this year.

Unit 1 of the Haiyang plant attained first criticality on 8 August and was grid connected on 17 August. That unit is also scheduled to enter commercial operation by year-end.

Haiyang 2 was connected to the grid at 9.51am on 13 October, State Power Investment Corporation announced that day. "All technical indicators met the design requirements and the unit is in good condition," it said. Haiyang 2 will begin commercial operation in early 2019.

Acceptance certificates

On 11 October, China National Nuclear Corporation subsidiary Sanmen Nuclear Power Company signed provisional acceptance certificates with the suppliers of the Sanmen 1 unit: Westinghouse Electric, China National Nuclear Engineering, Harbin Electric, Mitsubishi and Zhejiang Thermal Power Corporation.

The provisional acceptance certificate signing ceremony (Image: Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems)
​

The signing of the certificates followed the unit completing a 700-hour demonstration run and performance test, as stipulated in the supply contract. The unit now starts a period of operation under guarantee from the suppliers, after which final acceptance certificates will be signed.

Westinghouse President and CEO José Gutiérrez said, "Many years have been dedicated to successfully bringing the first AP1000 unit to life. Our Westinghouse design and technology is now live and generating safe, clean energy."

Four AP1000 reactors were also being built in the USA - two each at Vogtle and Summer. However, construction of the two Summer units was suspended in August 2017.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News



http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Fourth-Chinese-AP1000-connected-to-grid

 

[JSCh]

Stable coolant developed for nuclear reactors
By Zhang Han Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/15 23:08:39

An overview of the Tianwan Nuclear Plant in East China's Jiangsu Province Photo: VCG​

China has made progress on liquid metal coolants for nuclear reactors, a key technological breakthrough in developing domestic nuclear energy.

The liquid lithium loop system has operated safely at ultra-high temperatures of 1,500 K, equivalent to 1,227 C, in a laboratory by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Technology, the People's Daily reported on Monday.

The research team, based in Hefei, East China's Anhui Province, has overcome the obstacles of stress coordination and immersive measurements in liquid lithium. The fluid's stability has also been controlled, the newspaper reported.

There is still long way to go to apply the technology, an expert on nuclear engineering who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Monday.

Liquid lithium is an ideal material to derive heat from nuclear fusion reactors for its high working temperature, good thermal conductivity and low density. Able to work under normal pressure, lithium coolants can make the reactor compact and lightweight, the newspaper reported.

Lithium working at high temperatures will be suitable for space reactors while current power-yielding reactors only require a temperature of around 500K, the expert said.

The circuit has carried out experiments on the corrosion resistance of refractory alloys in superheated lithium liquid. Such a stable loop system is the basic platform for future research on the compatibility between liquid lithium and structural materials, People's Daily reported.

China's second and third generation reactors rely on imported technology. This breakthrough is one steady step to nuclear independence, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Monday.

​

 

[JSCh]

Second AP1000 enters commercial operation
23 October 2018

Unit 1 of the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China's Shandong province has completed 168 hours of full-power continuous operation. The unit is now deemed to be the second AP1000 reactor to enter commercial operation.

The two AP1000 units at Haiyang (Image: State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation)​

Haiyang 1 completed the full-power demonstration test run at 10.12pm yesterday, State Power Investment Corporation has announced. The reactor, it said, has now met "commercial operation conditions". Although operator China National Nuclear Corporation must still obtain necessary permits and documentation, the unit can now be considered to be in commercial operation.

In September 2007, Westinghouse and its partner the Shaw Group received authorisation to construct four AP1000 units in China: two at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and two more at Haiyang in Shandong province. Construction of Sanmen 1 began in April 2009, while first concrete for Sanmen 2 was poured in December 2009. Construction of Haiyang 1 and 2 began in September 2009 and June 2010, respectively.

Unit 1 of the Haiyang plant attained first criticality on 8 August and was grid connected on 17 August.

On 21 September, Sanmen 1 became the first AP1000 to enter commercial operation. Unit 2 of the Sanmen plant is also expected to enter commercial operation by the end of this year, while Haiyang 2 is expected to start up early next year.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News



http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Second-AP1000-enters-commercial-operation

 

[JSCh]

China National Nuclear Power posted on weibo that at 14:27 on September 30, Unit 4 of Tianwan Nuclear Power Station entered first criticality.

中国核电_CNNP
54分钟前 来自 小米Max2 大屏大电量
10月27日06时53分，中国核电投资控股的田湾核电站4号机组首次并网一次成功，各项技术指标均符合设计要求，实现了工程建设又一个重要里程碑节点，为该机组后续各功率平台试验的实施和按期实现投入商业运行的目标奠定了坚实的基础。

China National Nuclear Power
At 06:53 on October 27, the No. 4 unit of Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, which was controlled by China Nuclear Power Investment, was successfully connected to the grid for the first time. All technical indicators met the design requirements and realized another important milestone in the construction of the project. A solid foundation has been laid for the implementation of power platform test and the goal of achieving commercial operation on schedule.

 

[jamal18]

£35 billion UK pounds is quite a significant sum.

But any investment at all is a better choice than letting our money rot in US Government bonds.

On a slightly different note, why is China still buying US Treasury bonds despite their imminent collapse?

 

[JSCh]

Construction begins on China’s first floating nuclear plant
Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/5 14:23:39

Photo taken on March 21, 2018 shows the installation site of a hemispherical dome at the No. 6 unit of China National Nuclear Corporation's Fuqing nuclear power plant in southeast China's Fujian Province. In May of 2017, a containment dome was installed on the No. 5 unit of the nuclear power plant, the first reactor featuring the Hualong One design. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

Construction on a floating nuclear power plant worth 1.4 million yuan ($202,000) has begun in Yantai, East China's Shandong Province, which will reportedly be the country's first floating nuclear power plant.

The first platform of the project will be put into use in 2021. It will be able to provide clean energy to coastal cities, islands, offshore work platforms, polar and remote regions, Qilu Evening News reported Friday.

The construction is a major step to guaranteeing China's marine strategy and security, the report said.

The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is in charge of the project, the report said, citing announcements made at the 2018 nuclear power industry forum in Yantai on Thursday.

At the start of the year, the CNNC and Yantai government signed an agreement to cooperate on a clear energy composite supply platform and pool-type low-temperature reactor, according to the CNNC website.

The website said in September that CNNC had completed the preliminary design of a reactor called Yanlong based on the company's safe and stable operation of pool-type experimental reactors over the past 50 years.

 

[JSCh]

Sanmen 2 attained first criticality on 17 August and was grid connected a week later. The unit is expected to enter commercial operation by the end of this year.

中国核电_CNNP
今天 09:37 来自 小米Max2 大屏大电量
11月5日晚9点47分，中国核电旗下三门核电2号机组顺利完成168小时满功率连续运行考核，机组具备投入商业运行条件。

目前，三门核电一期工程两台机组均满功率运行。至此，中国核电控股运行核电机组已达20台，装机容量增至17966兆瓦。

中国核电_CNNP
At 9:47 pm on November 5, China National Nuclear Power's Sanmen Nuclear Power Unit No. 2 successfully completed the 168-hour full-power continuous operation assessment, and the unit was put into commercial operation conditions.

At present, both the two units of the first phase of the Sanmen nuclear power project are operating at full power. So far, China Nuclear Power Holdings has operated 20 nuclear power units, and its installed capacity has increased to 17,966 MW.

 

[JSCh]

Russia, China Sign Energy Agreements at Shanghai Expo - Russia Business Today
November 6, 2018

​

Russia and China signed four executive contracts on constructing the seventh and eighth units of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and CFR600 demonstration fast neutron reactor, RIA news agency reports.

The agreements were signed on Tuesday on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

The engineering division of Russia’s state corporation Rosatom and the China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) contracted for a technical project of the Tianwan NPP reactors, while Rosatom’s Afrikantov experimental design bureau signed a deal with the CNNC on supplying equipment and providing services for the CFR600 reactor.

The machine-building division of Rosatom JSC Afrikantov OKBM and enterprises of CNNC signed on project CFR600 executive contracts for the supply of equipment and services, the provision of a license to use the software, as well as services for the examination of documentation.

The China International Import Expo is one of the country’s most important investment events of the year. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to about 3,000 business and government representatives who gathered for the event. Many expected Xi to announce reforms for trade and investment, but that did not happen, according to VOA News.

 

[JSCh]

SPIC and Westinghouse agree to cooperate
09 November 2018

China's State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for "global cooperation" in nuclear energy with Westinghouse Electric Company of the USA.

The signing of the MoU in Shanghai (Image: SPIC)​

The integrated global cooperation framework MoU was signed on 6 November during the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

SPIC was established in May 2015 through the merger of China Power Investment Corporation and State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation. The company is one of China's top five power generators, with a total installed capacity of 126 GWe, including 4.48 GWe of nuclear power. It owns the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning Province, and the Haiyang and Rongcheng plants in Shandong Province.

SPIC did not disclose details of the MoU, but described it as of "great strategic significance".

"This MoU was based on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and involves cooperation between Westinghouse and SPIC in a number of nuclear energy businesses around the world," it said. The agreement covers "many corporations in China and the United States".

In September 2007, Westinghouse and its partner the Shaw Group received authorisation to construct four AP1000 units in China: two at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and two more at Haiyang. Construction of Sanmen 1 began in April 2009, while first concrete for Sanmen 2 was poured in December 2009. Construction of Haiyang 1 and 2 began in September 2009 and June 2010, respectively.

Unit 1 of the Haiyang plant attained first criticality on 8 August and was grid connected on 17 August. That unit began commercial operation on 22 October. Haiyang 2 - which was connected to the grid on 13 October - is expected to start up in early 2019.

Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with US courts in March 2017 to enable it to undergo strategic restructuring. The filing affected only its US operations, which included projects to construct four AP1000 reactors at two sites, Vogtle in Georgia, and VC Summer in South Carolina. On 4 January, it was announced that Brookfield Business Partners had agreed to acquire 100% of Westinghouse from Japan's Toshiba Corporation for about USD4.6 billion. On 1 August, Westinghouse announced completion of the sale, which marked its emergence from Chapter 11 as a reorganised company.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News



http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/SPIC-and-Westinghouse-agree-to-cooperate

 

[JSCh]

Chinese scientists set global record with artificial sun
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-07-05 13:52

Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in Hefei, East China's Anhui province. [Photo/CCTV.com]

Chinese scientists have successfully operated an experimental thermonuclear fusion reactor to achieve high-confinement plasma for more than 100 seconds, a new record length of time in the world.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, East China's Anhui province, has been dubbed as artificial sun since it replicates the energy-generating process of the sun.

In the latest experiment, the facility created steady-state high-constrained plasma-emitting for 101.2 seconds under a temperature of 50 million C. The facility set the record time of 60 seconds in November.

The achievement is expected to improve the development of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the largest international program dedicated to thermonuclear fusion experiments.

China independently designed and constructed the EAST in 2006. The facility is 11 meters tall, with a diameter of 8 meters, and a weight of 400 tons. It is run by the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei. In 2012, its tungsten diverters and auxiliary heating system were upgraded.

东方超环实现的世界最长101.2秒高约束放电等离子体的基本参数
（Ip=0.4MA, Bt=2.5T, PRF=3.0MW, ne=3.0x1019/m3, Te=4.0KeV, H98y2=1.1, USN）

中科院之声
14分钟前 来自 微博 weibo.com
【EAST装置实现1亿度等离子体运行等多项成果】通过优化稳态射频波等多种加热技术在高参数条件下的耦合与电流驱动、等离子体先进控制等，结合理论与数值模拟，实现加热功率超过10兆瓦，等离子体储能增加到300千焦；在电子回旋与低杂波协同加热下，等离子体中心电子温度达到1亿度。这些实验成果为未来ITER运行和正在进行的中国聚变工程实验堆CFETR工程和物理设计提供了重要的实验依据与科学支持。->合肥综合性国家科学中心再创佳绩—EAST装置实...

Chinese Academy of Science
[EAST Tokamak device achieves 100 million degrees of plasma operation and many other achievements]
By optimizing the coupling of a steady-state RF wave and other heating technologies under high-parameter conditions, current drive, advanced plasma control, etc., combined with theoretical and numerical simulations, the heating power exceeds 10 MW, and the plasma energy increases to 300 KJ; Under the simultaneous electron cyclotron and lower hybrid heating, the plasma center electron temperature reaches 100 million degrees. These experimental results provide important experimental basis and scientific support for the future ITER operation and the ongoing engineering and physical design of the Chinese fusion engineering experimental reactor CFETR.

2018年度EAST实现的运行区拓展及能量约束增强因子同ITER基本运行模式的对比
​

 

[JSCh]

Chinese Academy of Science
[EAST Tokamak device achieves 100 million degrees of plasma operation and many other achievements]
By optimizing the coupling of a steady-state RF wave and other heating technologies under high-parameter conditions, current drive, advanced plasma control, etc., combined with theoretical and numerical simulations, the heating power exceeds 10 MW, and the plasma energy increases to 300 KJ; Under the simultaneous electron cyclotron and lower hybrid heating, the plasma center electron temperature reaches 100 million degrees. These experimental results provide important experimental basis and scientific support for the future ITER operation and the ongoing engineering and physical design of the Chinese fusion engineering experimental reactor CFETR.

2018年度EAST实现的运行区拓展及能量约束增强因子同ITER基本运行模式的对比
​

China’s ‘artificial sun’ achieves temperature of 100 million degrees
Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/12 20:58:39

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), dubbed China's "artificial sun," is under experiment at the Institute of Plasma Physics, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Source: China Central Television

China's self-designed "artificial sun," a device to harness the energy of fusion, has made an important advance by achieving a temperature of 100 million C in plasma and a heating power of 10 megawatts, media reported, noting the progress could pave the way for developing clean energy through nuclear fusion.

The Institute of Plasma Physics, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, announced on its website on Monday that various data points achieved in the experiments are close to meeting physics' demand for future steady-state fusion reactor operation.

It also provides an important technological basis for mankind's development of clean nuclear energy, said the institute.

Independently designed and developed by China, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is the world's first fully superconducting tokamak with non-circular cross-section and the country's fourth generation experimental nuclear fusion device, state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.

The device is dubbed as the "artificial sun" as it aims to realize nuclear fusion like that of the sun by using deuterium and tritium, which widely exist in sea water, CCTV reported.

The CCTV report said that the device could continuously provide clean energy for humanity.

After setting world record by achieving 101.2 seconds of steady-state H-mode operation of the EAST in 2017, scientists turned their eyes to research the physical mechanism of the core under high power heating in 2018, said the institute.

Achievements realized in 2018 in EAST experiments will provide important and direct experience for the construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a large international scientific project that is a global collaboration of 35 countries including China, Russia and the US.

It also will provide experimental evidence and scientific support for China's ongoing China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) project, the institute said.

Compared with ITER, although smaller, EAST is similar to ITER in shape and equilibrium, yet more flexible.

During the 10 years of ITER construction, EAST will be one of only a few international devices that can serve as an important experimental test bench for conducting ITER related steady-state advanced plasma science and technology research, according to the official website of the institute.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese Fusion Tool Pushes Past 100 Million Degrees
Nov 13, 2018

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), nicknamed the "Chinese artificial sun", achieved an electron temperature of over 100 million degrees in its core plasma during a four-month experiment this year. That's about seven times more than the interior of the Sun, which is about 15 million degrees C.

The experiment shows China is making significant progress towards tokamak-based fusion energy production.

The experiment was conducted by the EAST team at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASHIPS) in collaboration with domestic and international colleagues.

The plasma current density profile was optimized through the effective integration and synergy of four kinds of heating power: lower hybrid wave heating, electron cyclotron wave heating, ion cyclotron resonance heating and neutral beam ion heating.

Power injection exceeded 10 MW, and plasma stored energy boosted to 300 kJ after scientists optimized the coupling of different heating techniques. The experiment utilized advanced plasma control and theory/simulation prediction.

Scientists carried out experiments on plasma equilibrium and instability, confinement and transport, plasma-wall interaction and energetic particle physics to demonstrate long-time scale, steady-state H-mode operation with good control of impurity, core/edge MHD stability, and heat exhaust using an ITER-like tungsten divertor.

With ITER-like operating conditions such as radio frequency wave-dominant heating, lower torque, and a water-cooling tungsten divertor, EAST achieved a fully non-inductive steady-state scenario with extension of fusion performance at high density, high temperature and high confinement.

Meanwhile, to resolve the particle and power exhaust, which is crucial for high-performance steady-state operations, the EAST team employed many techniques to control the edge-localized modes and tungsten impurity with metal walls, along with active feedback control of the divertor heat load.

Operating scenarios including the steady-state high-performance H-mode and electron temperatures over 100 million degrees on EAST have made unique contributions towards ITER, the Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) and DEMO.

These results provide key data for validation of heat exhaust, transport and current drive models. They also increase confidence in fusion performance predictions for CFETR.

At present, the CFETR physics design focuses on optimization of a third-evolution machine with large radium at 7 m, minor radium at 2 m, a toroildal magnet field of 6.5-7 Tesla and a plasma current of 13 MA.

In support of the engineering development of CFETR and the future DEMO, a new National Mega Science Project – the Comprehensive Research Facility – will be launched at the end of this year.

This new project will advance the development of tritium blanket test modules, superconducting technology, reactor-relevant heating and current drive actuators and sources, and divertor materials.

EAST is the first fully superconducting tokamak with a non-circular cross section in the world. It was designed and constructed by China with a focus on key science issues related to the application of fusion power. Since it began operating in 2006, EAST has become a fully open test facility where the world fusion community can conduct steady-state operations and ITER-related physics research.

Fig. 1 The plasma electron temperature over 100 million degrees achieved in 2018 on EAST. (Image by the EAST Team)

​

Fig. 2 The extension of EAST operation scenario in 2018, with the comparion of its energy confinement enhanced factor to the ITER baseline scenario. (Image by the EAST Team)


Chinese Fusion Tool Pushes Past 100 Million Degrees---Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

[JSCh]

UK HPR1000 moves to next design assessment stage
15 November 2018

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA) have completed "initial high-level scrutiny" of the UK HPR1000 reactor design. The design now moves onto the third of four stages in the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process.

A rendering of the UK HPR1000 (Image: ONR)​

The UK HPR1000 is the Hualong One design that General Nuclear Services (GNS) - a subsidiary of EDF and China General Nuclear (CGN) - proposes to use at a prospective new nuclear power plant in Bradwell, England.

The GDA process has a number of steps, with the technical assessment becoming increasingly more detailed. Step 2 is the first in which the regulators assess the acceptability of safety, security and environmental protection of the design.

The ONR and EA said they had not identified in Step 2 any fundamental issues to prevent a plant based on the UK HPR1000 from being built in the UK.

Nuclear regulator ONR is tasked with assessing the fundamental safety and security aspects of the design. It said that, together with GNS, it had completed the preparatory work necessary to enable commencement of Step 3. It noted, however, that there is still a considerable amount of work that will need to be undertaken by GNS going forward in the GDA process, "requiring significant resources across all of the topic areas" for the company.

GNS said progression of the UK HPR1000 to the next step of the GDA process follows a year of intensive work by teams in the UK, China and France, during which time the UK public has had the opportunity to comment on the design details shared during Step 2. Step 3 will move to deeper analysis of the design of the UK HPR1000 nuclear technology, and will continue to be open to public comment, it said.

"This is an important milestone for the GDA project, involving many thousands of hours of engineering work, and is a great demonstration of the effectiveness of the CGN and EDF joint venture in the UK," said Zhu Minhong, managing director of GNS. "I would encourage the public to continue to engage with the process and provide feedback on the next level of detail that is being provided as part of Step 3."

The regulators aim to complete the GDA of the UK HPR1000 in late 2021.

Under a strategic investment agreement signed in October 2016, CGN agreed to take a 33.5% stake in EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C project in Somerset, as well as jointly develop new nuclear power plants at Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex. The Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C plants will be based on France's EPR reactor technology, while the new plant at Bradwell in Essex will feature the Hualong One design.

As part of that agreement, CGN formed a joint venture company with EDF Energy to seek regulatory approval for a UK version of the Hualong One design.

The GDA is a voluntary process for reactor vendors - it is policy rather than law - but it is a government expectation for all new-build projects in the UK. In January 2017, the British government formally requested regulators start the process for the UK HPR1000. The initial preparatory step was completed in November last year.

CGN is constructing two demonstration HPR1000 reactors at the Fangchenggang site in China's Guangxi Autonomous Region, about 45km from the border with Vietnam. This is the reference plant for the Bradwell project. First concrete was poured for the nuclear island of unit 3 of the Fangchenggang plant - 39% owned by Guangxi Investment Group and 61% by CGN - in December 2015, while that for unit 4 was poured a year later. Unit 3 is expected to start up next year, with unit 4 scheduled to start up in 2020.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/UK-HPR1000-moves-to-next-step-of-design-assessment

 

[JSCh]

New uranium enrichment centrifuges go commercial
By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/20 22:58:42

China's domestic uranium enrichment centrifuges can now be applied to large-scale commercial use after a demonstration project of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) passed national approval on Monday.

With independent intellectual property rights, CNNC successfully completed the project of new-generation uranium enrichment centrifuges for commercial use, the CNNC said on its official WeChat account on Monday.

The project will "play a crucial role in protecting national energy safety and upgrading domestic nuclear power."

It shows that China's uranium enrichment centrifuges have been upgraded and are capable of large-scale applications.

The overall technical level and economic efficiency of uranium enrichment have further improved and reached advanced international levels, the CNNC said.

"The use of uranium enrichment centrifuges is essential to producing nuclear fuel. The project will support domestic nuclear power stations," Li Junli, an expert on nuclear studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As of November 2017, Chinese mainland has 37 running nuclear power plants, and 19 nuclear power plants were under construction, Economic Information Daily reported.