Tianwan 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 ...
(NPP) in the city of
Lianyungang
Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its name derives from ...
in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
Province,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
It is located on the coast of the
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...
approximately 30 kilometers east of
Lianyungang
Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its name derives from ...
proper. It is co-owned by Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation, a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
partially owned by the
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 c ...
(CNNC), and
Atomstroyexport
Atomstroyexport (russian: Атомстройэкспорт) is the Russian Federation's nuclear power equipment and service exporter. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Rosatom. The activities of Atomstroyexport are financially supported by the Russ ...
(ASE), the nuclear equipment exporter branch of the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n nuclear corporation
Rosatom
Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that speciali ...
.
The NPP consists of four reactor units each rated at 1,000 MW capacity and constructed by ASE, two more units rated at 1,000 MW capacity constructed by CNNC and another two units rated at 1,200 MW capacity under construction under ASE. If all the units are completed, Tianwan will become the
world's largest nuclear power plant with a total generating capacity of about 8,100 MWe, surpassing both the active
Kori NPP (7,411 MWe) and the inactive
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP (7,965 MWe).
History
Units 1 and 2
Construction commenced on 20 October 1999 for the first unit, and on 20 October 2000 for the second reactor unit. The first reactor went
critical
Critical or Critically may refer to:
*Critical, or critical but stable, medical states
**Critical, or intensive care medicine
*Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences.
*Critical Software, a company specializing in ...
on 20 December 2005. Construction of the second reactor finished in May 2007 and commercial operation began in August.
This is the first time the two countries have cooperated on a nuclear power project.
Units 3 and 4
On 23 November 2010, Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation signed a contract with
ASE
Ase may refer to:
* Ase, Nigeria, a town in Delta State, Nigeria
* -ase, a suffix used for the names of enzymes
* Aṣẹ, a West African philosophical concept
* American Sign Language (ISO 639-3 code: ase)
See also
* Åse (disambiguation)
* ...
according to which ASE will supply 1060 MWe VVER-1000 reactors for units 3 and 4.
[
]
Construction of unit 3 was delayed by the
2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, but finally began on 27 December 2012. Construction of unit 4 would follow up about a year later, on 27 September 2013.
Unit 3 finished construction and went critical in late December 2017 and started commercial operation a few months later in early 2018,
while Unit 4 went critical in late September 2018 and finished construction a month later in October.
It started commercial operation in late December 2018.
Initially, units 3 and 4 are owned by ASE, but on 20 January 2020, ASE transferred control of unit 3 to Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation.
Units 5 and 6
On 27 December 2015
and 7 September 2016,
CNNC started construction of Units 5 and 6 with their own 1,000 MW ACPR-1000 reactors.
Fuel loading for Tianwan unit 5 was completed on 13 July 2020,
criticality was achieved on 30 July 2020, grid connection was established on 8 August 2020, and commercial operation started on 8 September 2020. Unit 6 reached commercial operation on 3 June 2021.
Units 7 and 8
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 c ...
(CNNC) and ASE signed the detailed contract for the construction of two
VVER-1200
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор; transliterates as ; ''water-water power reactor'') is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally de ...
s (Tianwan 7 and 8) on 7 March 2019. Construction of Tianwan 7 started on 19 May 2021 and Tianwan 8 began on 25 February 2022 Commercial operation is expected in 2026 and 2027.
Details
Both units use
VVER
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор; transliterates as ; ''water-water power reactor'') is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally de ...
pressurized water reactor
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water reactor, 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 ...
(PWR) technology supplied from Russia. Together they cost approximately US$3.3 billion. The units are the Russian standard reactor type VVER-1000/392 (also carries the designation of VVER-1000/428) adapted specifically for China.
These VVER 1000 reactors are housed in a confinement shell capable of being hit by an aircraft weighing 20 tonnes and suffering no expected damage. Reactors also received additional protection from earthquakes. Other important safety features include an emergency core cooling system and core confinement system. Russia delivered initial fuel loads for the Tianwan reactors. China planned to begin indigenous fuel fabrication for the Tianwan plant in 2010, using technology transferred from Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL.
"''The station has four levels of security. There's a double asbestos cluster, which blocks any kind of emissions. Also there's a revolutionary security improvement called the trap, which prevents any leakage of nuclear fuel in the event of a breakdown''", Alexandr Selikhov, Head of Atomstroyexport
Atomstroyexport (russian: Атомстройэкспорт) is the Russian Federation's nuclear power equipment and service exporter. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Rosatom. The activities of Atomstroyexport are financially supported by the Russ ...
's delegation to China
The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant uses third party parts. While the reactor and turbo-generators are of Russian design, the control room was designed and built by an international consortium (including
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
). In this way the plant was brought to meet the toughest recognised safety standards; safety systems were already mostly in place but the previous monitoring of these systems did not meet international safety standards. The new VVER 1000 plant built in China has 94% of its systems automated, meaning the plant can control itself under most situations. Refueling procedures require little human intervention. Five operators are still needed in the control room.
Built reactors are
Third Generation Third generation may refer to:
* ''Third Generation'' (album), a 1982 album by Hiroshima
* ''The Third Generation'' (1920 film), an American drama film directed by Henry Kolker
* ''The Third Generation'' (1979 film), a West German black comedy b ...
, except Unit 5 and 6.
Reactors
The Tianwan nuclear power plant has six operating units, one under construction, and one more planned future reactor:
See also
*
List of nuclear reactors#China
*
Nuclear power in China
China is one of the world's largest producers of nuclear power. The country ranks third in the world both in total nuclear power capacity installed and electricity generated, accounting for around one tenth of global nuclear power generated. N ...
References
External links
*
{{Nuclear power in the PRC
Nuclear power stations in China
Nuclear power stations using VVER reactors
Buildings and structures in Lianyungang
Energy infrastructure completed in 2006
Nuclear power stations with reactors under construction
Nuclear power stations with proposed reactors