Reactor vessel installation under way at Hongyanhe 5

20 March 2018

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The reactor pressure vessel for unit 5 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant has been delivered to the construction site in China's Liaoning province. Installation of the component began immediately.

The reactor vessel arrives at the Hongyanhe site (Image: CGN)

The vessel - measuring 13 meters in height, 4m in diameter and weighing over 300 tonnes - arrived by ship at the Hongyanhe site on 18 March. On arrival, the component - manufactured by Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Equipment Co Ltd - was transported directly to the nuclear island gantry of unit 5. China General Nuclear (CGN) said work to install the vessel began straight away.

CGN said this marks the start of peak installation of the main equipment for the unit's nuclear island.

Unit 5 is the first of two 1080 MWe CGN-designed ACPR-1000 reactors that will form the second phase of the Hongyanhe plant.

Construction of Phase I of the plant, comprising four CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors, began in August 2009. Units 1 and 2 have been in commercial operation since June 2013 and May 2014, respectively, while unit 3 entered commercial operation in August 2015 and unit 4 in September 2016.

A ceremony to mark the breaking of ground for Phase II of the Hongyanhe plant was held in July 2010. Following a suspension in new reactor approvals and licensing in response to the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, CGN eventually received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission in March 2015 to build Hongyanhe units 5 and 6. This marked the first approval for new reactors in four years.

Construction of unit 5 began on 29 March 2015, with construction of unit 6 starting in July the same year. Installation of the reactor pressure vessel of unit 6 is scheduled to begin by the end of this year. CGN said the second phase of the project is planned to be completed in 2021.

The Hongyanhe plant is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co, a joint venture between CGN and State Power Investment Corporation, each holding a 45% stake, with the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Co holding the remaining 10%.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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