The No. 3 & 4 units of the Phase-II of Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Station in Guangxi are under construction. Compared with No. 1 & 2 units of the Phase-I project, No. 3 & 4 units adopt the third-generation technology of Hualong I with proprietary intellectual property rights. It is the first demonstration project of China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) as well as a reference to the Bradwell nuclear power program B of CGN in the U.K.
It is learnt that China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd. (CCSEB) is mainly responsible for the construction of the demonstration program. CGN has joined hands with CCSEB many times.
During the past three decades, the nuclear power construction for commercial use has embarked an innovative development path from “bringing in” to “going out”, indicated Cheng Huimin, assistant general manager of China Construction Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. China Construction overcame technical difficulties in the construction of nuclear power programs through R&Ds and made contributions to the nuclear power construction for commercial use in China.
CCSEB participate in nuclear power unit construction
At present, CCSEB is one of the only four companies that are qualified for the construction of containment lining for nuclear island as well as the only construction enterprise that independently undertakes civil engineering for nuclear island.
As of the end of June 2017, CCSEB participated in 9 nuclear power units under construction across the country, with an installed capacity of 10.98 million kilowatts, accounting for 49.42 percent of the total installed capacity of the 20 units under construction in the country; participate in 12 nuclear power units in operation across the country, with an installed capacity of 23.747million kilowatts, accounting for 41.71 percent of the total installed capacity of the 20 units in operation in the country. Its rich experience in the construction of nuclear power plants laid a good foundation for the Hualong I project.
Li Guangyuan, deputy general manager of China Construction Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. and project manager of Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Station, said that the batch of management for the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Station entered the construction site on May 6, 2016. There was no preparation period. It came to a peak period as soon as they entered the site. This never happened in previous nuclear power projects. Yet even if under such a difficult situation, after only three and a half months, the nuclear power plant was put into use in August 31, 2016
Improve domestic equipment contribution, enhance competitiveness
In addition to high requirements for civil engineering, what other advanced technologies are reflected in Hualong I nuclear power unit?
Yuan Changhong, assistant to the director of the CGN Culture Propaganda Center, said that the safety and performance indicators of Hualong I reached the international advanced level of three generations of nuclear power technology. Firstly, its safety performance is improved.
With double-layer containment, Hualong I is more solid. Dong Zhanfang, deputy chief designer of civil engineering of CGN Design Institute, said that the double-layer containment can withstand strikes of large large commercial aircraft and has a stronger resistance to external events.
Hualong I has hydrogen recombiner. Yuan said that the hydrogen recombiner can promptly disperse accumulated hydrogen as that there will no hydrogen explosion.
It is noteworthy that home-made equipment contributes 86.7 percent to Hualong I demonstration project. Almost all core technologies are domestic, and all nuclear grade pumps are home made.
The high degree of localization in Hualong I project has brought a cost advantage for “going out”. Yuan said that based on years of experiences in nuclear power plant construction and operation, to improve the rate of localization is an important aspect of enhancing cost advantage.
With this advantage, China's nuclear power technology has also received global attention. China has reached a cooperation intention with nearly countries around the globe, including Britain Argentina, and Brazil.
Yuan said that China's nuclear power technology’s “going out” can drive China's major manufacturing and construction enterprises together to “go out”.
Translated by Star Zhang, Coral Zhong
Latest comments