The loading of the first group of fuel assemblies into unit 6 of China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC’s) Tianwan NPP in Lianyungang city, Jiangsu province, began on 14 April, CNNC said. This signals the start of the commissioning stage, and is a key step towards the completion of the Tianwan Phase III Project. Units 5 and 6 – Tianwan Phase III – are both Chinese ACPR1000 reactors. First safety-related concrete was poured for unit 5 in 2015, with that for unit 6 in 2016. Tianwan 5 began commercial operation in September 2020. Hot functional testing of Tianwan 6 began in November and was completed in late December.
The first four units at the site – which began commercial operation between June 2007 and December 2018 – are Gidropress VVER units supplied by Russia, as will be the seventh and eighth, for which a general contract was signed in March 2020.
