Nuclear Construction Starts 2022: China 4, Rest of the World 0

WNISR, 15 July 2022

China launches the fourth nuclear reactor construction in 2022, Unit 3 at the Haiyang site in the Shandong province. Reportedly, work on the CAP1000, the Chinese adaptation of Westinghouse’s AP1000, started with the concreting of the base slab of the reactor building already on 7 July 2022.

The event at Haiyang follows the beginning of the Sanmen-3 building in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, on 28 June 2022. Both sites already host two AP1000 reactors, and the addition of two CAP1000 units at each of the sites are considered Phase II of the respective site development.

Construction Start of the Haiyang-3 Nuclear Reactor (Photo: SNERDI)

In April 2022, China’s State Council had approved the construction of the four CAP1000 reactors as well as two units of the HPR-1000 (Hualong One) design in Lufeng, Guangdong province. It was the first time since 2008 that the launch of six reactors was authorized in one decision.

The work at Haiyang is the fourth construction start in China in 2022—no other country has yet begun building a commercial nuclear power plant this year—which brings the number of reactors under construction in China to 22 and to 54 globally.