Unit 1 at China’s Haiyang nuclear plant in Shandong province on 22 October become the second Westinghouse AP1000 to begin commercial operation following a week of trials, the State Power Investment Corp (SPIC) said on its website.
Operator China National Nuclear Corporation must still obtain necessary permits and documentation before the unit can begin commercial operation. Construction of Haiyang 1, a Generation III+ unit started in September 2009, and it was connected to the grid in August 2018.
In 2007 US-based Westinghouse (then part of Toshiba) won a bid to build four AP1000 units in China – two at Haiyang and two at Sanmen in Zhejiang Province. In September 2018 Sanmen 1 became the world’s first AP1000 to begin commercial operation.
Two AP1000 units under are also construction in the USA at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. Two more at the VC Summer site in South Carolina have been cancelled. Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in March 2017 after delays and rising costs at Vogtle and Summer. Westinghouse has now been sold for $4.6bn to Brookfield WEC Holdings, a subsidiary of Canadian-listed asset management company Brookfield. The reactor, it said, has met "commercial operation conditions".
