Hydraulic pressure testing has been completed on the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of China’s demonstration CAP1400 unit to be built at Huaneng Group's Shidaowan in Shandong province. Site preparation is already underway for two demonstration CAP1400 units and pouring of first concrete is expected to take place soon. The Shidaowan site is part of a larger Rongcheng Nuclear Power Industrial Park, where two prototype 105MWe HTR-PM small modular reactors are already under construction.
The 487t CAP1400 RPV underwent a two-stage hydraulic pressure test to confirm the integrity of its welds and seals in the presence of officials from National Nuclear Safety Administration, reactor designer the Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI), and manufacturer China First Heavy Machinery Group.
The CAP1400 is an enlarged version of the AP1000 pressurised water reactor developed from the Westinghouse original by State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC), with consulting input from Westinghouse. The CAP1400 is one of 16 strategic projects under China's National Science and Technology Development Plan, and is intended to be widely deployed across the country and also for export.
In May 2016, the CAP1400 design passed the International Atomic Energy Agency's Generic Reactor Safety Review – not a clearance process but a review of the quality of the safety documents identifying strengths, weaknesses and gaps.
