Fourth 2020 Reactor Construction‑Start in China

WNISR, 6 January 2021

Beginning of concrete pour for the base slab of the San’ao-1 reactor building - Photo CGN

Construction began 31 December 2020 on unit 1 at the Zhejiang San’ao Nuclear Power Plant with the first basemat-concrete pour, according to China General Nuclear (CGN) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). This was the fourth construction start of the year in China and the fifth in the world. Only one other reactor got underway in 2020 outside China, Akkuyu-2, in Turkey.

The San’ao-1 reactor, of the HPR-1000 design, also known as the Hualong One, is scheduled to commence operations in 2025. Six 1-GW HPR-1000 reactors are planned for the site which lies near to San’ao village, on the south-eastern coast of Cangnan County (Wenzhou), in the Zhejiang province of China on the East China Sea. Unit 2 construction start is scheduled for the end of 2021. Based on CGN’s ACPR-1000 design, the HPR-1000 /Hualong One is a Generation III reactor, a more advanced version of CGN’s Generation II CPR-1000 and CNNC’s ACP-1000 designs. These designs were derived mainly from the 900 MWe reactors that China imported from France in the 1980s (Daya Bay) and 1990s (Ling Ao).

The project is being developed by Cangman Nuclear Power Company, a subsidiary of CGN Group. CGN holds a 46% stake in the project, while the other development partners include Zhejiang Energy Power (34%), Cangnan Haixi Construction Development Company (9%), Wenzhou Nuclear Energy Development Company (9%), and Geely Maijie Investment Group (2%).

Of the 17 reactors now under construction in China, eight are HPR-1000 /Hualong One design. The latest launch brings the total number of reactors currently under construction worldwide to 51.