Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 05 2023
P. 9
AsiaElec NUCLEAR AsiaElec
Chinese nuclear programme
on track in Zhangzhou
Second unit to come online at same facility sometime in 2024
CHINA CHINA’S increasingly popular Hualong One pres- backbone of China’s domestic nuclear power
surised water nuclear reactor (PWR) has seen two programme in recent years with at least fifteen
more installations reach a crucial stage of comple- sites having been brought to operational status or
tion in Fujian Province on the south-east coast. currently at various stages of construction.
After construction licences for the Zhang- Pakistan in southern Asia is already ben-
zhou units 1 and 2 were first issued by China’s efiting from a pair of operational units at the
Ministry of Ecology and Environment in Octo- Karachi NPP, with a further contract signed in
ber 2019, the facility has been serving as the lat- Argentina to power the Atucha Nuclear Com-
est nuclear ambassador for a nation increasingly plex just outside Buenos Aires.
keen to export its PWR technology overseas. Nuclear authorities in both the European The Hualong
With completion of the outer dome of the Union and the United Kingdom have in the past
containment building at unit 1 of Zhangzhou’s 18 months also certified the Hualong One as One reactor
nuclear power plant (NPP), the facility is now cleared for construction.
structurally linked to the inner fuel and electri- At home in China, meanwhile, the outer has formed
cal plants, according to a statement released by dome at the Zhangzhou unit 1 was completed
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) on 19 January, with CNNC saying the dome’s the backbone
last week. current structural integrity “is an important of China’s
The facility is scheduled to be brought online safety guarantee for nuclear power units – resist-
and fully operational as Zhangzhou 1 sometime ant to large aircraft collisions and magnitude 9 domestic
in 2024. earthquakes.”
Another Hualong One unit is also scheduled Reports from CNNC state that the twin-lay- muclear power
to be brought online at the same facility in 2025, ered, 45-metre diameter steel and concrete
sources at CNNC say. containment dome will guarantee no leaks by programmew.
The Hualong One reactor has formed the radioactive materials.
Week 05 02 •February•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
