The first two steam generators and the pressuriser for the Taishan 1 EPR reactor have arrived in China.
After leaving the port of the AREVA Chalon-St Marcel plant, these heavy components were first transported to Fos-sur-Mer in the South of France, before being shipped onwards by sea to the Taishan site where they are being kept in storage awaiting installation.
The two remaining generators and the reactor pressure vessel internals are currently being transported to the site where they are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
The manufacturing time for these steam generators, which are 25 m long and weigh 550 tonnes each, has been reduced by nearly 40 % compared to those manufactured previously for other EPR reactors.
“The optimized manufacturing and delivery in accordance with the customer’s desired schedule of the heavy components for the Taishan 1 nuclear steam supply system [NSSS] demonstrates AREVA’s capacity to mass produce equipment for the third generation of EPR™ reactors” said Claude Jaouen, Senior Executive Vice President for AREVA’s Reactors & Services activities.