Steam generators in place at Hualong One unit

08 January 2018

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The third and final steam generator has been installed at the demonstration Hualong One reactor being constructed as unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province. The reactor is expected to start up next year.

Installation of the third steam generator at Fuqing 5 (Image: CNNC)

The steam generator - weighing 365 tonnes and over 21 metres in length - was yesterday hoisted onto a horizontal gantry platform some 16.5 metres above the ground, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced. The component was subsequently moved into reactor's containment building through the main equipment transportation channel. Once there, it was lifted into the vertical position using a specially designed tool and put in place.

The first steam generator was installed at Fuqing 5 on 10 November. The second was put in place on 24 December, the same day that CNNC announced the welding of the main pipework of the unit had officially started.

Steam generators are used in pressurised water reactors (PWRs) to transfer heat from the reactor coolant into water in a secondary circuit, producing the steam used to power the electricity-generating turbines. Each steam generator contains thousands of kilometres of tubes through which hot water flows.

The ZH-65-type steam generators were independently designed by the China Nuclear Power Institute and manufactured by Dongfang Electric.

In November 2014, CNNC announced that the fifth and sixth units at Fuqing will use the domestically-developed Hualong One PWR design, marking its first deployment. The company had previously expected to use the ACP1000 design for those units, but plans were revised in line with a re-organisation of the Chinese nuclear industry. China's State Council gave final approval for construction of Fuqing units 5 and 6 in mid-April 2015.

The pouring of first concrete for Fuqing 5 began in May 2015, marking the official start of construction of the unit. Construction of unit 6 began in December 2015. The dome of unit 5 was installed on the containment building in May last year. Fuqing 5 and 6 are scheduled to be completed in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Construction of two Hualong One units is also under way at China General Nuclear's Fangchenggang plant in Guangxi province. Those units are also expected to start up in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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