China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on 2 March that hot testing at the Hualong One reactor at unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear plant in Fujian province had been completed.
Fuqing 5 will be the world’s first Hualong One to start up. The tests laid a "solid foundation" for the reactor's operation, CNNC said and “verified the functioning of the unit's active and passive systems as well as non-nuclear components including steam turbines”.
Construction of Fuqing 5 began in May 2015 and of Fuqing 6 the following December.
The Hualong One, or HPR1000, is an indigenous 1000MW, three-loop pressurised water reactor. It incorporates elements of CNNC’s ACP1000 and China General Nuclear’s ACPR1000+ reactor designs.
Four Hualong One units – Fuqing 5 and 6 in and Fangchenggang units 3 and 4 in Guangxi province – are expected to be connected to the Chinese grid this year.
Construction began on a unit at Zhangzhou in Fujian last September and at Taipingling in Gaungdong in late December.
Two Hualong One units – also known as the HPR1000 – are under construction at Karachi NPP in Pakistan.
