China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has completed concreting of the outer dome of the containment building at unit 2 of China’s Zhangzhou NPP in Fujian province. “This concrete pouring provides the capping of the hemispherical dome structure, with a thickness of 1.5 metres and a maximum span of 28 metres,” CNNC said. This “marks the completion of the main structure of unit 2 and lays a solid foundation for the subsequent containment sealing test and cold functional test”.
The plant will eventually house six Hualong One reactors. Two units are already under construction at the site (1&2) as phase one of the project. China’s Ministry of Ecology & Environment issued construction licences for Zhangzhou 1&2 in 2019 to CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, the owner of the Zhangzhou NPP, which was established in 2011. The Zhangzhou project, with a total investment of over CNY100bn ($14bn), is owned by CNNC (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%). The construction licences are valid for 10 years.
Units 1&2, which began construction in 2019 and 2020, are scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2024 and 2025. First concrete was poured for unit 3 in February – the first of two Hualong One units planned as the second phase of the plant. Two more Hualong One units are planned for the third phase.
Earlier in October, the Ministry of Ecology & Environment issued an operation licence for unit 1 after which Zhangzhou Nuclear Power began to load the 177 fuel assemblies, marking the start of commissioning. In September, first concrete was poured for the nuclear island of Zhangzhou unit 4.
In 2014, the local government approved Zhangzhou phase one, which was then expected to comprise two Westinghouse AP1000 units. Construction had originally been expected to start in 2017. However, CNNC subsequently decided to use the HPR1000 (Hualong One) Chinese design instead.
The Hualong One reactor design adopts a double-layer containment design, in which the outer containment is divided into three parts: a cylinder structure, a hemispherical dome structure and an external water tank. The main function of the double-layered containment building is to ensure the integrity and leak tightness of the reactor building.
