The containment dome has been installed at unit 6 of China’s Hongyanhe NPP in Liaoning province. The installation was completed on 8 September, seven days ahead of schedule. Hongyanhe 6 is the second of two 1,080MWe ACPR-1000 reactors designed by China General Nuclear (CGN) that will comprise the second phase of the NPP. Construction of Phase I (four CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors) began in 2009. Units 1 and 2 began commercial operation in June 2013 and May 2014, respectively, unit 3 in August 2015 and unit 4 in September 2016. Phase II was launched in July 2010 but was delayed following the Fukushima accident which saw new nuclear construction suspended for four years. CGN received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission in March 2015 to build units 5 and 6.
Construction of unit 5 began in March 2015 and its dome was installed in April. It is scheduled to start operations in November 2019 followed by unit 6 in August 2020.
Elsewhere in China, cold hydrostatic testing has been completed on the primary circuit of the Westinghouse-designed AP1000 under construction at unit 2 of the Sanmen NPP under construction in Zhejiang province, according to project developer State Nuclear Power Technology Company (SNPTC). Sanmen 2 is one of four AP1000 nuclear units under construction in China – two at Sanmen and two at the Haiyang NPP in Shandong province. Similar tests were completed at unit 1 of the Sanmen plant in May 2016 and at unit 1 of the Haiyang plant in July 2016. Both Sanmen 1 and Haiyang 1 are expected to begin operating by the end of the year. Sanmen 2 and Haiyang 2 are expected to start up in 2018.
