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

[JSCh]

CNNC develops China’s largest pulse generator
Updated: 2019-01-19

China’s first 300,000-KVA vertical pulse generator passed comprehensive tests at Southwest Institute of Physics of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) in Chengdu, on Jan 17.

The generator, which meets international-standard specifications, will be able to meet the needs of HL-2M, China’s fusion research facility, providing it with a high-voltage power supply.

HL-2M is China’s state-of-the-art Tokamak device, also known as a “man-made sun”, which is used in operational and controllable thermonuclear fusion research.

It is hoped that the generator will lift the plasma current of the HL-2M to twice that of existing devices in China, and push the plasma temperature to exceed 150 million kWh, thus providing guarantees for the follow-up experiment.

 

[JSCh]

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Nation to complete new artificial sun device this year
Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/4 22:03:40

Public visit the model of artificial sun in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province in October 2006. Through the model, they can know how the machine generates electricity. Photo: VCG

China plans to complete the construction of the HL-2M Tokamak device, the artificial sun, this year, achieving an ion temperature of 100 million degrees, an official at the China National Nuclear Corporation said on Sunday.

Duan Xuru, also a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remarks on the sidelines of the top political advisory body's annual session that started on Sunday.

The Tokamak devise is designed to replicate the nuclear fusion process that occurs naturally in the sun and stars to provide almost infinite clean energy through controlled nuclear fusion, which is often dubbed as the "artificial sun."

Achieving an ion temperature above 100 million C is one of the three challenges to reach the goal of harnessing the nuclear fusion, and the core of the sun is widely believed to be 15 million C, meaning that the ion at the device's core will be seven times higher than that of the Sun.

The other two challenges are containing the fusion within a limited space in the long term, and providing a sufficiently high density profile, Science and Technology Daily reported on Monday.

"The artificial sun's plasma is mainly composed of electrons and ions, and the country's existing Tokamak devices have achieved an electron temperature of over 100 million degrees C in its core plasma, and an ion temperature of 50 million C, and it is the ion that generates energy in the device," Duan told the media.

To bring up the ion temperature to over 100 million C, we need higher device parameters, injects and absorbs more energy, and operates with a more advanced working mode, Duan said.

The new HL-2M device will possess such capabilities, and hopefully will elevate the current device's plasma electric current level of 1 trillion 3 trillion amperes, which shall greatly enhance the plasma's parameters, and the device power, providing a main technical support for China's participation in the experiment and operation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the independent design and construction of future fusion reactors, Science and Technology Daily reported.

The ITER is a large international scientific project that is a global collaboration of 35 countries including China, Russia and the US.

 

[JSCh]

CNNC confirms preparations for China’s first floating nuclear plant
By Leng Shumei Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/8 17:33:40

Gu Jun (first from right), CNNC general manager, also a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), at the Friday CNNC press conference. Photo: Courtesy of CNNC

The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) confirmed on Friday that the firm is in preparation for a floating nuclear power plant, which reportedly will be the first one in China, off the coast of East China's Shandong Province.

Gu Jun, CNNC general manager, also a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), confirmed the project with the Global Times reporter on Friday at a press conference in Beijing.

Gu did not reveal further details of the project, saying that information including the volume of investment is still unknown.

A floating nuclear power plant is a site with one or more nuclear reactors, located on a platform out at sea that can provide electricity and heat to areas with difficult access, such as in cold northern China regions.

The first platform of the CNNC project will cost 14 billion yuan ($2.08 billion) and will be put into use in 2021, Shandong-based Qilu Evening News reported in November 2018.

An anonymous CNNC engineer, who is part of the project, previously told the Global Times that the floating nuclear plant is built for a local industrial park.

The building of the floating nuclear plant in China is not a surprise, as Russia and the US have done a lot in the area, Gu pointed out.

Nuclear energy will also play a more important role in aerospace exploration and submerging in the future, Gu said.

Russia launched the world's first floating nuclear plant in May 2018.

The CNNC and Russian state nuclear company Rosatom signed a 20-billion-yuan nuclear deal including the introduction of Russia's third-generation VVER-1200 nuclear technology into China.

Gu said they are going through procedures for the project and will possibly introduce the technology by the end of this year.

Apart from Russia, the CNNC has also been actively cooperating with many other countries such as Iran, Bulgaria, and Saudi Arabia to make China's nuclear technology go global.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese Academy Develops World's Largest Non-Welded Steel Ring for Atomic Plants
XU WEI
DATE : MAR 12 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

Chinese Academy Develops World's Largest Non-Welded Steel Ring for Atomic Plants​

(Yicai Global) March 12 -- The Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has rolled out the world's largest non-welded stainless steel ring forging, developed through its own metal-forming technology.

It has a diameter of 15.6 meters and weighs 150 tons, both being the world's largest, China News Service reported today, citing the institute. It achieved the hierarchical construction of a 100-ton metal billet for the first time.

The giant ring will be use at China's fourth-generation nuclear power plants, and will effectively guarantee the implementation of major equipment in the country's nuclear industry.

As the core component of the nuclear power unit, the support ring is the pressure vessel's boundary and safety barrier and serves as the backbone of the entire reactor, supporting 7,000 tons of weight. Such massive forgings are normally made by welding multi-segment small billets, a long and costly process that also poses a risk to the plant's operation due to the weak material structure of the welded position.

Many academicians regard the new technology as a revolutionary innovation in large component manufacturing. It has been used in hydropower, wind power, nuclear power and other fields. It will promote the rapid development of China's high-grade equipment and guarantee its independence over core materials in major equipment.

 

[JSCh]

Russia and China signed the Executive contracts for the construction of Tianwan NPP and Xudabao NPP

• 11 March, 2019 / 16:35

On March 7, in Beijing, ASE (ROSATOM Engineering Division) and CNNC enterprises signed a General contract for units 7 and 8 of Tianwan NPP, as well as a contract for a technical project for units 3 and 4 of Xudabao NPP.

​

The preparation of these documents was carried out in accordance with the strategic package of agreements signed during the visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the People's Republic of China. This package defines the major lines to develop cooperation between Russia and China in the nuclear industry for the next decades.


https://rosatom.ru/en/press-centre/...-construction-of-tianwan-npp-and-xudabao-npp/

 

[JSCh]

China Approves Four Hualong One Nuclear Reactors
LIAO SHUMIN
DATE : JAN 31 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China Approves Four Hualong One Nuclear Reactors​

(Yicai Global) Jan. 31 -- China yesterday gave the go-ahead to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Phase I of China National Nuclear's Zhangzhou nuclear power project, as well as another two at the Phase I of China General Nuclear Power Group's Huizhou Taiping Ling nuclear power project.

A senior executive at Beijing-based Hualong International Nuclear Power Technology, a joint venture between China National Nuclear and China Nuclear Engineering & Construction, both also headquartered in Beijing, confirmed the news to state-backed Jiemian News.

Barring one project approved in 2012, the Chinese government has imposed a freeze on new general nuclear power projects since the accident at the tsunami-struck nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan in 2011.

Infrastructure for the two projects, including power and water supply facilities, is already in place, and further construction awaited only the government nod, the senior executive said, but added the projects still need to pass safety checks before the first concrete pours.

Lying in Zhangzhou in southeastern Fujian province, the plan is for construction of six reactors applying US-developed AP1000 technology, with installed capacity of about 7.5 million kilowatts. Situated in Huizhou, Guangdong province, the Huizhou Taiping Ling nuclear power project will comprise six million-kilowatt reactors.

Many ongoing nuclear power projects in China started fueling last year, with seven commercial application-ready reactors put into operation, but new nuclear power projects are still not yet up and running.

The government is expected to later give the green light to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors for the nuclear power plants in Zhangzhou's Shidao Bay later, as well as the No. 3 and No. 4 units of the facilities located in Sanmen County and Haiyang, based on the national nuclear blueprint.

China adopted third-generation nuclear power technologies in many nuclear reactors last year, with the US technology used at the nuclear power plants in Sanmen County and Haiyang and EPR technology from France at the stations in Taishan.

The country has decided to shift to the Hualong One technology in the Zhangzhou nuclear power project as its self-developed Hualong One technology progresses.

The the technical choices for reactors at the Xudabao and Lufeng nuclear power plants are yet to be determined.

China Breaks Nuclear Freeze by Splurging USD12.1 Billion to Build Two Hualong One Plants
TANG SHIHUA
DATE : MAR 19 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China Breaks Nuclear Freeze by Splurging USD12.1 Billion to Build Two Hualong One Plants​

(Yicai Global) March 19 -- China's central environmental authority has given the green light for the construction of two nuclear power projects with four reactors, which is the first such go-ahead since 2016.

The pair, China General Nuclear Power Group's Huizhou Taiping Ling in southern Guangdong province and China National Nuclear's Zhangzhou plant in southeastern Fujian, will start construction on June 30, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement on its website. The total investment will be CNY81.2 billion (USD12.1 billion), public information shows.

The Chinese government imposed a multi-year freeze on new nuclear power projects since the accident at the tsunami-struck nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan in 2011.

In 2015, China began building two plants involving domestically designed Hualong One reactor technology in Fujian province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with the first unit expected to enter operation in 2020.

 

[JSCh]

CNNC plans to build nation’s first floating nuclear plant this year
By Leng Shumei Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/20 22:28:40

China will start the construction of its first floating nuclear power plant within this year, Luo Qi, head of the Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) of China confirmed with Global Times on Wednesday.

A floating nuclear power plant is a marine platform equipped with scaled-down nuclear reactors, which can provide electricity and heat to areas with difficult access, such as remote areas, islands and offshore oil and gas platforms, according to Luo.

Luo noted that the floating nuclear platform does not take up a lot of space, will not be affected by earthquakes and will create no pollution.

The NPI is affiliated with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

Gu Jun, the general manager of CNNC, previously told the Global Times that the corporation is in preparation for a floating nuclear power plant off the coast of East China's Shandong Province.

Gu did not reveal further details of the project, saying that information including the volume of investment is still unknown.

The Qilu Evening News based in Jinan, Shandong, reported in November 2018 that the first floating nuclear power platform of a CNNC project will cost 14 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), and will be put into use in 2021.

 

[JSCh]

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Nation to complete new artificial sun device this year
Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/4 22:03:40

Public visit the model of artificial sun in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province in October 2006. Through the model, they can know how the machine generates electricity. Photo: VCG

China plans to complete the construction of the HL-2M Tokamak device, the artificial sun, this year, achieving an ion temperature of 100 million degrees, an official at the China National Nuclear Corporation said on Sunday.

Duan Xuru, also a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remarks on the sidelines of the top political advisory body's annual session that started on Sunday.

The Tokamak devise is designed to replicate the nuclear fusion process that occurs naturally in the sun and stars to provide almost infinite clean energy through controlled nuclear fusion, which is often dubbed as the "artificial sun."

Achieving an ion temperature above 100 million C is one of the three challenges to reach the goal of harnessing the nuclear fusion, and the core of the sun is widely believed to be 15 million C, meaning that the ion at the device's core will be seven times higher than that of the Sun.

The other two challenges are containing the fusion within a limited space in the long term, and providing a sufficiently high density profile, Science and Technology Daily reported on Monday.

"The artificial sun's plasma is mainly composed of electrons and ions, and the country's existing Tokamak devices have achieved an electron temperature of over 100 million degrees C in its core plasma, and an ion temperature of 50 million C, and it is the ion that generates energy in the device," Duan told the media.

To bring up the ion temperature to over 100 million C, we need higher device parameters, injects and absorbs more energy, and operates with a more advanced working mode, Duan said.

The new HL-2M device will possess such capabilities, and hopefully will elevate the current device's plasma electric current level of 1 trillion 3 trillion amperes, which shall greatly enhance the plasma's parameters, and the device power, providing a main technical support for China's participation in the experiment and operation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the independent design and construction of future fusion reactors, Science and Technology Daily reported.

The ITER is a large international scientific project that is a global collaboration of 35 countries including China, Russia and the US.

China National Nuclear Corp. announced that on March 19th, the core component of the HL-2M device, the main vacuum chamber, was successfully developed and shipped to Chengdu from Xi'an.

 

[JSCh]

Testing complete for Hualong One fuel
21 March 2019

Long-term irradiation testing of China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) CF3 pressurised water reactor (PWR) fuel has been completed.

CNF3 fuel assembly (Image: CNNC)​

Four sets of CF3 fuel assemblies, which are designed for use in the Hualong One reactor, were loaded into Qinshan II unit 2 - a Chinese-designed CNP-600 PWR - in July 2014. The assemblies have undergone poolside inspections during each fuelling cycle, CNNC said. Inspection results show that the performance of the design has met internationally accepted standards.

According to World Nuclear Association information, CF3 fuel assemblies are being manufactured at CNNC's main PWR fuel fabrication plant at Yibin in Sichuan province, using fuel pellets from Kazakhstan's Ulba Metallurgical Plant.

Hualong One reactors are currently under construction at Fuqing and Fangchenggang. Fuqing 5 and 6 are expected to start up in 2019 and 2020, as are Fangchenggang 3 and 4. The Hualong One promoted on the international market is called the HPR1000, two of which are under construction at Karachi in Pakistan.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Testing-complete-for-Hualong-One-fuel

 

[JSCh]

China's Nuclear Revival Continues With Plans for Small Plant in Hainan
LIN CHUNTING
DATE : MAR 22 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China's Nuclear Revival Continues With Plans for Small Plant in Hainan​

(Yicai Global) March 22 -- China aims to start construction this year on a small-scale nuclear power unit in the southernmost island province of Hainan, marking the third such project to be rubber-stamped this year.

China National Nuclear Power aims to complete the project within 65 months as part of efforts to better meet local power demands, the Beijing-based firm said in a statement.

The small nuclear power unit will boast an installed capacity of 125,000 kilowatts, and use ACP100 small modular reactor technology from CNNP parent China National Nuclear.

China recently ended a freeze on new nuclear projects which had been in place since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. The country's authorities greenlighted two larger projects in Guangdong and Fujian provinces earlier this month.

Small modular reactors are a new direction for the sector, encouraged by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The US, Russia, South Korea, Japan and France are all developing this technology.

Applications of small nuclear power units are highly flexible and cannot be replaced by large nuclear power units. They can meet power demands of different regions and users, including the supply for small and medium-sized power grids, urban heating, industrial heating and desalination.

"Small modular reactors have broad market prospects," one nuclear industry insider told Yicai Global.

Two 650,000 kW units were installed in Changjiang in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and nuclear power provides one-third of the island's supply.

As an island, the scale and capacity of Hainan's power grid are relatively small, which is makes it suitable for developing and applying small units to alleviate the impacts of peak load regulations.

 

[JSCh]

China's Fourth-Gen Nuclear Reactors to Start Up by Next Year
XU WEI
DATE : APR 01 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China's Fourth-Gen Nuclear Reactors to Start Up by Next Year​

(Yicai Global) April 1 -- China is accelerating the implementation of science and technology projects in the field of fourth-generation nuclear power and is demonstrating high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.

They are in the final stage of installation and debugging and construction will be completed and start operation by the first half of next year, China Securities Journal reported, citing China Nuclear Energy Association Chairman Yu Jianfeng, who spoke recently at the China Nuclear Energy Sustainable Development Forum.

At the end of last month, the number of nuclear power units in operation in China was 45, with installed capacity of 45.9 million kilowatts and electricity generation of 294.4 billion kWh, ranking it third in the world, Yu said.

The number of third-generation nuclear power units that began working or are under construction has reached 10, accounting for more than a third of the world's total for such units. They are in good operational state and their general security level is upgraded annually.

A total of eight units have been built and put into action since last year, and another 11 are being constructed. China has been a world leader in the number of units under construction for many years, Yu said.

No projects have been waiting for approval since December 2015. The No.1 unit of Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian province, and the No.1 unit of Taiping Mountain Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province will begin construction work in June, according to two environmental impact assessments the Ministry of Ecology and Environment made public on March 18. Outsiders have taken this as a sign of the nuclear power industry's recovery.

China will continue to develop nuclear power by guaranteeing its safety, Liu Hua, vice environment minister and head of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, said at the forum.

Under the 13th five-year plan, the capacity of China's nuclear power plants that will be in operation will be 30 million kilowatts; the capacity of plants that start construction will be more than 30 million kilowatts; and the installed one will reach 58 million kilowatts in 2020, which means about six to eight nuclear power units are expected to start construction every year.

 

[JSCh]

China plans fusion power research
01 April 2019

A research centre to support China's push for nuclear fusion power has been approved. It will be able to test large superconducting magnets and filters under operational conditions. The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that having an integrated research facility for key systems of fusion reactors is "one of the major scientific engineering projects" in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan.

A rendering of the future research centre (Image: Institute of Plasma Physics)​

Scientific goals for the project include studying plasma behaviour under the boundary parameters of magnetic constrained fusion and exploring the effects of complex dynamic loads on critical systems and components. It will evaluate the service performance of filters and superconducting magnets under load conditions.

China aims to construct a tokamak fusion reactor, known as the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor, and launch its operation in 2030. It would be smaller than the international Iter project, yet comparable in performance in that some modes of operation would produce up to 10 times the heat required to initiate fusion. It is hoped that these large experiments will yield the knowledge required to create fusion power plants in around 2050.

Site selection, social risk assessment and environmental impact studies have all been carried out and approved, the Chinese Academy of Science said. The project awaits only a final investment budget for construction to begin. Site preparation has been under way since 14 December last year.

The facility will be built in Lyuang district in the north west of Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui province, which itself is about 400 km west of Shanghai. It will be jointly built by the Chinese Academy of Science and the government of Anhui province.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News


http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/China-plans-fusion-power-research

 

[JSCh]

CNNC loads medical cobalt-60 into reactors

CNNC loads medical cobalt-60 into reactors
Updated: 2017-04-21

China's first batch of medical cobalt-60 was loaded into nuclear reactors managed by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) on April 15, and the medical cobalt-60 products are expected to be launched to the market in 2019.

Similar to the "heart" for gamma knife (γ-knife), medical cobalt-60 can be utilized for treating tumors with precise radiotherapy.

The milestone marks CNNC bringing the technology to China to produce medical cobalt-60, and will end China's long-term dependence on importing the material.

The Canadian research reactor currently used for producing medical cobalt-60 will be decommissioned soon, and the Argentine heavy water reactor units previously used have been shut down for reconstruction, which has resulted in an enormous shortage of medical cobalt-60.

For years, CNNC has worked on the research and producing of cobalt-60 radiation source, and its self-developed industrial cobalt-60 has been in application in 2009, emitting radiation of over 5,000 curies so far.

Besides, the maintenance period of Qinshan heavy water reactor has been extended to 24 months, to guarantee the specific activity of cobalt-60 to meet medical demands, while building solid foundations for China to be able to produce the material in the future.

中国核电_CNNP
4月2日 20:02 来自 iPhone客户端
癌症患者的福音！伽马刀“中国芯”在秦山核电研制成功@核电秦山核电有限公司 @健康中国 @上海核工院

2019年4月1日12时37分24秒，国内首个医用钴靶件经辐照后在秦山核电重水堆1号机组顺利出堆，这标志着我国通过自主研发成功掌握了医用钴－60放射源生产技术，一举打破高比活度医用钴－60放射源全部依赖国外进口的局面，伽马刀即将装备“中国芯”。

中核集团在2015年要求秦山核电、中国同辐等联合启动重水堆大批量生产医用钴源的技术研发工作，2016年“医用钴－60放射源工业化生产技术研究”项目被列为中核集团“龙腾2020”科技创新计划项目。经秦山核电与中国同辐、中核北方、中核高通、上海核工院等单位联合科研攻关，两年时间内完成了医用钴源生产技术研发、安全分析、靶件制造、安全审评等一系列工作，国内首个医用钴靶件于2017年4月在秦三厂1号机组顺利入堆。经过两年堆芯辐照后，首批医用钴源在秦三厂110大修期间出堆。经持续监测及最终测算，辐照生产的医用钴－60放射源活度满足使用要求。

China Nuclear Power_CNNP
April 2 at 20:02

Good news for cancer patients! Gamma Knife "China Core" successfully developed in Qinshan Nuclear Power @核电秦山核电有限公司@健康中国 @上海核工院

At 12:37:24 on April 1, 2019, the first domestic medical cobalt target irradiated at the No.1 unit of Qinshan Nuclear Power Heavy Water Reactor was successfully developed. This mark that China has successfully mastered the production technology of medical cobalt-60 radioactive source through independent research and development, breaking past complete reliance on foreign imports of high specific activity medical cobalt-60 radioactive source in one fell swoop. China gamma knife will soon be equipped with "China Core".

In 2015, CNNC asked Qinshan Nuclear Power and China Isotope & Radiation Corporation (CIRC) to jointly launch technology research and development work for mass production of medical cobalt sources in heavy water reactors. In 2016, the “Research on Industrialized Production Technology of Medical Cobalt-60 Radioactive Sources” was listed as the “Longteng 2020” Science and Technology Innovation Project of China National Nuclear Corporation. Through Qinshan Nuclear Power and CIRC, CNNC North, CNNC Gaotong, The Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Institute and other units jointly completed within two years series of work including, medical cobalt source production, technology R & D, safety analysis, target manufacturing, safety review, etc. The first domestic medical cobalt target was successfully loaded into Unit 1 of Qinsan III Plant in April 2017. After two years of core irradiation, the first batch of medical cobalt sources were unloaded during the 110 maintenance overhaul of Qinsan III Plant. After continuous monitoring and final measurement, the radioactive activity of medical cobalt-60 source produced was found to have met the requirements for use.

 

[JSCh]

Nuclear energy is a key part of China's Belt and Road policy
03 April 2019

China wants to promote nuclear energy cooperation in the 'Belt and Road', and is focusing on new technology deployment and completing its radioactive waste management strategy, a conference in Beijing heard. The Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organisations.

​

Opening the 2019 Spring International Summit at China's Nuclear Energy Sustainability Forum on 1 April, the chairman of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Yu Jianfeng, said human society is entering a new era of clean energy development. In the last three years, he said, China has shown the fastest growth rate of clean energy, including hydro, wind, solar and nuclear power.

The country accounts for about one-fifth of nuclear capacity under construction globally - 10.8 GWe of the 56.3 GWe total - while its construction performance means eight of the last 10 new reactors to start up were in China. However, these start-ups are the result of construction approvals granted five or six years ago whereas approvals for new projects have been withheld for the last three years. This hiatus is expected to end soon now that the first EPR and AP1000 units are in operation at Taishan and Yangjiang, respectively. In parallel, construction of the first indigenous Haulong One units, Fuqing 5 and 6, is progressing with installation of large components, such as the steam turbine, at an advanced stage.

The conference aimed to promote international cooperation on nuclear energy in the 'Belt and Road' and accordingly Yu highlighted the Chinese export to Pakistan of two ACP-1000 pressurised water reactors to the Karachi nuclear power plant. The first of these, Karachi 2, began construction in August 2015 and is nearing completion. It will be put into operation soon, he said. Pakistan started up new Chinese-supplied CNP-300 units in 2016 and 2017, doubling its nuclear power production to 6.2% of generation. When in operation the new Karachi units would take that to at least 16%.

In China, Yu looked forward to the start-up of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor at Shidao Bay (Shandong Shidaowan). The pilot pebble-bed design unit started construction at the end of 2012 and is now in the "final stage of installation and commissioning" to be completed in the first half of 2020, said Yu.

Waste strategy taking shape

With its nuclear sector well established and growing fast, China is making firm plans to establish appropriate waste management infrastructure for the trend to continue.

"In 2016, China set up a mechanism for the reprocessing of spent fuel at the national level, and the post-treatment of spent fuel was fully accelerated," Zhang Jianhua, deputy director of the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA), told the conference.

"At present, the construction of spent fuel reprocessing capacity in China is progressing steadily in accordance with the three-step plan of 'pilot scale, demonstration scale, industrial scale'".

A demonstration used fuel treatment plant, with a capacity of 200 tonnes of used fuel per year, is being built in Gansu Nuclear Technology Industrial Park in Gansu province by CNNC Longrui Technology Company, which was set up in March 2015.

'Industrial scale' refers to a full-size reprocessing plant that would accept highly radioactive used nuclear fuel assemblies currently stored under water at power plants, before dissolving them to separate recyclable uranium and plutonium from waste products which can then be packaged ready for disposal.

A coastal site in Jiangsu province has been suggested, so that used fuel could be transported by ship. In July 2016 Lianyungang city in Jiangsu was mentioned as likely for the site, close to the Tianwan nuclear power plant, but public protests caused local government to back away from the proposal.

Talks about this under cooperation with France made progress recently during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meetings in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Regarding the disposal of nuclear wastes, Zhang said China had completed the site-selection work and the CAEA had approved plans for the first underground laboratory for disposal of highly radioactive wastes.

China has a "three-step strategy of 'site selection, underground experiment and disposal bank construction'", with the goal of finally building a high-discharge waste disposal site by 2050, he said.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News


http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclear-energy-is-a-key-part-of-China’s-Belt-and-R

 

[JSCh]

Russia and China signed the Executive contracts for the construction of Tianwan NPP and Xudabao NPP

• 11 March, 2019 / 16:35

On March 7, in Beijing, ASE (ROSATOM Engineering Division) and CNNC enterprises signed a General contract for units 7 and 8 of Tianwan NPP, as well as a contract for a technical project for units 3 and 4 of Xudabao NPP.

​

The preparation of these documents was carried out in accordance with the strategic package of agreements signed during the visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the People's Republic of China. This package defines the major lines to develop cooperation between Russia and China in the nuclear industry for the next decades.


https://rosatom.ru/en/press-centre/...-construction-of-tianwan-npp-and-xudabao-npp/

AtomStroyExport unveils schedule for China projects
03 April 2019

Alexey Bannik, vice president of China projects at Russia's AtomStroyExport (ASE), has given the schedule for new VVER-1200 units at Tianwan and Xudabao. Construction of Tianwan unit 7 will start in May 2021, and that of Xudabao unit 3 and of Tianwan unit 8 will start five and 10 months later, respectively. The launch of the Tianwan units is scheduled for 2026 and 2027 while the third and fourth units at the Xudabao plant will both be launched in 2028.

Tianwan units 1-4 (Image: ASE)​

ASE and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) signed the general contract for the construction of Tianwan 7 and 8 and a technical contract for two new units at Xudabao on 7 March. These contracts were prepared in accordance with the strategic package of agreements signed during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to China last June. This package defines cooperation between Russia and China in the nuclear industry in the coming decades. Contracts for Tianwan 7 and 8 were signed between CNNC and Rosatom in early November marking the implementation of the framework contracts.

ASE is the engineering division of Rosatom and Bannik’s comments appeared in an interview with the state nuclear corporation’s newspaper, Strana Rosatom, yesterday.

"According to the contract, first concrete will be poured at Tianwan-7 in May 2021; five months later at Xudabao-3; another five months later at Tianwan-8; and another five months after that Xudabao-4," Bannik said. "That is, there will be a 10-month gap between units 7 and 8 at Tianwan, and a five-month gap between the seventh unit at Tianwan and the third unit at Xudabao, which is a new site for us. The target dates are very ambitious and meeting them will require clear and coordinated work by all the project participants."

The construction site of Tianwan 7 and 8 is "essentially ready", Bannik said. "Now we are working on levelling it out, but we already know this area because we’ve built four units there and so we don’t need to conduct any additional surveys," he added. The Chinese side has fully prepared the Xudabao site for the construction of six blocks, two of which ASE will build, he said.

Bannik said: "We are planning the nuclear island, issuing the technical requirements and monitoring the plant as a whole, as well as the safety concept and preparing documents for licensing. The Chinese side is responsible for designing the non-nuclear island part and supplying all the equipment for it. We will supply the main equipment of the nuclear island and some security systems. The Russians will participate in all stages of construction."

He added: "There are many specialists in the company - they are our old friends who worked on the construction of the Tianwan units, which we are very pleased with. The division of labour at the new units is no different to that at Tianwan-3 and -4, for which the Chinese side has fully taken over the construction work. Therefore, we don't plan to bring our own resources to the extent that we need to at sites in other countries. But, perhaps, we will need specialists to work in the representative offices and on-site to oversee the construction and installation work by the Chinese side."

ASE plans to boost the number of personnel working on its China projects, he said, "but not by much".

"In the management company, we want to keep the number of the Chinese directorate at an optimal level. The projects for the units are similar and it is necessary to take advantage of this, and not to over-inflate it. As for representation in China, the sites are located too far from each other, in different provinces. For Xudabao, we’ll have to create a structure, almost repeating the representation in Lianyungang, at the construction site of the Tianwan NPP. That is a requirement of the contract," Bannik said.

The VVER-1200 projects in China will differ slightly to units of the same design built in Russia, he said, owing to different soil, climate and water supply features. In addition, the Chinese customer has a number of specific requirements related to nuclear, radiation and fire safety, and environmental impact, he added without elaborating.

Novovoronezh II-2 will be the third VVER-1200 to be commissioned, following Novovoronezh II-1 and Leningrad II-1, which were launched in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Rosatom describes the VVER-1200 as a Generation III+ power unit, which has a number of economic and safety advantages when compared to the previous generation (VVER-1000). It is 20% more powerful; requires 30-40% fewer operator personnel; and its operating period is twice as long, at 60 years, with the possibility of extension by an additional 20 years.

Rosatom also has VVER-1200 construction projects in Bangladesh, Belarus, Finland and Hungary.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News


http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/AtomStroyExport-unveils-schedule-for-China-project