China Restarts Nuclear Power Plant Construction

World Nuclear News reported that China has now resumed construction of new nuclear power plant projects, starting with the fifth unit at the Hongyanhe nuclear plant in Liaoning. All nuclear construction in China has been halted for the past 15 months.

As quoted in the market news:

The pouring of first concrete for the reactor’s basemat marks the official start of construction of the unit, the first of two that will form the second phase of the Hongyanhe plant. A total of some 4452 cubic meters of concrete will be poured to complete the foundation slab of the unit, plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) said.

Plant owner China General Nuclear (CGN) received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission on 10 March to build Hongyanhe units 5 and 6 – both CGN-designed ACPR1000 reactors – marking the first approval for new reactors in four years. The company aims to have both units in operation by 2021. The Hongyanhe site already hosts four CPR-1000 units. Units 1 and 2 have been in commercial operation since June 2013 and May 2014, respectively. Units 3 was connected to the grid on 23 March, while unit 4 is also scheduled to start up this year.

According to CGN, once all six units are in operation, the Hongyanhe plant will generate around 45 billion kWh of electricity annually, avoiding the need to burn more than 16 million tonnes of coal for power generation and the resulting emissions of some 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Click here to read the full World Nuclear News report.