Second Reactor Grid‑Connection in China in 2021

WNISR, 29 June 2021

Hongyanhe-5 in Dalian, Liaoning province, was connected to the grid for the first time on 25 June 2021. The startup comes with a delay of about one year. It is the second reactor to start up in China and the fourth in the world in 2021 with one unit each generating first power in India and Pakistan.

The Hongyanhe site, hosting the first nuclear power plant representing the largest energy investment project in Northeast China, is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co, a joint venture between China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) and China Power Investment Corporation (CNPC), each holding a 45 percent stake, with the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Co holding the remaining 10 Percent. The project comprises six 1,000-MW units in two phases.

Hongyanhe-5 and -6 in Dalian, Liaoning Province—Photo Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co Phase I was completed in 2016 and the four units of the Generation II CPR-1000 design, largely based on French Framatome 900-MW reactors of the 1980s, were connected to the grid between February 2013 and April 2016.

Phase II of the project comprises Units 5 and 6 that are equipped with CGN’s ACPR-1000 Generation-III technology. Construction of both units started in 2015 (see here and here). Their startup was scheduled for 2020 and 2021 respectively.

China Power Construction Co., Ltd., a state-owned enterprise based in Shenzhen, undertook the construction task of the conventional island of Phase II, which mainly included the turbine buildings, the combined pump house, and some auxiliary buildings.

As Hongyanhe-5 is connected to the grid, CGN has 25 nuclear power reactors in operation, almost half of China’s 52 operating units. In total, 18 additional reactors remain under construction in the country.