The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA) have found the UK HPR1000 reactor suitable for construction in the United Kingdom, the regulators jointly announced last week.
More than a dozen of the world’s leading nuclear industry executives have teamed up with the International Atomic Energy Agency to form the Group of Vienna, with the aim of using nuclear technologies to address global challenges, including climate change, disease, and hunger.
China’s Fuqing nuclear plant. Photo: CNNC
Unit 5 at China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC) Fuqing nuclear plant in southeastern China’s Fujian Province has become the world’s first Hualong One reactor to be connected to the power grid, the company announced on November 27. “It was confirmed on-site that all technical indicators of the unit met the design requirements and that the unit was in good condition,” CNNC said.
Fuel loading at Fuqing-5 began on September 4, following the issuance of the reactor’s operating license by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The loading of 177 sets of fuel assemblies was completed on September 10, and initial criticality was achieved on October 21. The unit is scheduled to enter commercial operation before the end of the year.
Also known as the HPR1000, the Hualong One is a Chinese-designed and -developed 1,000-MWe Generation III pressurized water reactor, incorporating design elements of CNNC’s ACP1000 and China General Nuclear’s ACPR1000+ reactors. Fuqing-5’s twin HPR1000, Fuqing-6, is scheduled to start contributing power to the grid next year.
Fuel loading begins at Fuqing-5. Photo: CNNC
The loading of 177 fuel assemblies into the reactor core of Unit 5 at the Fuqing nuclear power plant began on September 4, following the issuance of the unit’s operating license from China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on September 8. Construction of the reactor began in May 2015.
Unit 5 will be the first of the Hualong One reactors to enter commercial operation, expected later this year if all goes according to plan. Also known as the HPR1000, the Hualong One is a 1,000-MWe Generation III pressurized water reactor, indigenous to China. Unit 5’s twin HPR1000 at Fuqing, Unit 6, is scheduled to start contributing power to the grid next year.
Located in China’s Fujian Province, Fuqing also houses four 1,000-MWe CPR-1000 PWRs, with commercial start dates of November 2014, October 2015, October 2016, and September 2017, respectively.