The CA01 block module has been installed at unit 2 of China’s Lianjiang NPP in Guangdong province, according to the Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research & Design Institute (SNERDI), a subsidiary of State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). It is the second of two CAP1000 reactors which will comprise the first phase of the plant. The 1100-tonne module is more than 26 metres in length, 29 metres wide and 23 metres in height.
The concrete and steel CA01 super module, which is too large to be transported by road and rail, was constructed on site. It comprises 47 sub-modules and is located inside the unit’s containment module where it will house the plant’s reactor pressure vessel, steam generators and other components. The CAP1000 design – the Chinese version of the AP1000 – uses modular construction techniques, enabling large structural modules to be built at factories and installed at the site.
The largest and heaviest CA20 module was installed at Lianjiang 2 in October 2024. It comprises 32 wall modules and 39 floor modules and will include plant and equipment for used fuel storage, transmission, the heat exchanger and waste collection, among other things.
China’s State Council approved construction of the first two 1250 MWe CAP1000 reactors at Lianjiang in September 2022 and first concrete was poured for the foundation of unit 1 in September 2023 and for unit 2 in April 2024. Lianjiang unit 1 is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2028.
SPIC noted the Lianjiang project is the first nuclear power project it has developed and constructed in Guangdong province. With a total installed nuclear power capacity of 8.09 GWe, SPIC is one of the three largest nuclear power investment, construction and operators in China alongside China National Nuclear Corporation and China General Nuclear. According to SPIC, the Lianjiang plant will be the first nuclear power project in China to adopt seawater secondary circulation cooling technology as well as the first to use a super-large cooling tower.
