Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant () is a

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

in Tangxing Village of Haiwei Township,

Changjiang Li Autonomous County Changjiang Li Autonomous County (formerly known by its Cantonese romanization name Cheongkong) is an autonomous county in Hainan, China. It is one of six counties of Hainan. Its postal code is 572700, and in 1999 its population was 225,131 peopl ...

in the province of

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

. It is the first power plant of its kind in the province.

History

Construction of the first phase of the plant which consists of two reactors was approved by the

National Development and Reform Commission The National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC), formerly State Planning Commission and State Development Planning Commission, is a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council, which has br ...

in July 2008. Site works began in December 2008 and the first concrete was poured at the first unit on 25 April 2010. The plant was built by

China National Nuclear Corporation The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC; ) is a state-owned enterprise founded in 1955 in Beijing. CNNC's president and vice-president are appointed by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. CNNC oversees all aspects of China's civ ...

and

China Huaneng Group China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd., abbreviated as CHNG or Huaneng Group, is one of the five largest state-owned electricity generation enterprises in China, administrated by the State Council. It engages in the investment, construction, operat ...

. Unit 1 was connected to the electricity grid on 7 November 2015 and is commercially operating starting on 25 December 2015. In July 2019

announced it would start building a demonstration

ACP100 The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC; ) is a state-owned enterprise founded in 1955 in Beijing. CNNC's president and vice-president are appointed by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. CNNC oversees all aspects of China's civ ...

small modular reactor Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The ...

on the north-west side of the site by the end of the year.

Technical features

The plant will be built in two phases, both consisting of two CNP-600

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) i ...

s, with a capacity of 650 MW each. The first unit was connected to the grid November 7, 2015 and second unit June 20, 2016. More than 70% of the equipment was planned to be indigenously made.

Second Phase

On September 2, 2020, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council presided over an executive meeting of the State Council. The meeting approved the Hainan Changjiang Nuclear Power Phase II project. The total planned investment of the project is 39.45 billion yuan. Unit 3 is scheduled to pour the nuclear island's first concrete in August 2020 and will be completed in 2025; Unit 4 is scheduled to pour the nuclear island's first concrete in May 2021 and will be completed in 2026.

Reactor data

Pumped storage hydroelectricity

The 600 MW Hainan Qiongzhong

pumped-storage Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential ...

hydroelectric plant helps to balance the nuclear plant by absorbing nighttime production and generating electricity during the day.Alstom to outfit China's 600-MW Hainan Qiongzhong pumped-storage plant
''HydroWorld'', 2014. Retrieved: 21 January 2015.

References