Beijing also has 19 units under construction – more than any other country The Fangchenggang-3 Hualong One reactor in southern China completed a 168-hour trial test run on 25 March. Courtesy CGN. Unit 3 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power station in the Guangxi Autonomous Region of southern China has begun commercial operation, bringing the number of commercial reactors in the country to 56 – the second highest in the world equal with France.

China General Nuclear (CGN) said the 1,000 MW pressurised water reactor unit – the first of two demonstration HPR1000, or Hualong One, reactors at the site – completed a 168-hour trial test run at 06.55 on 25 March, “officially meeting the conditions for commercial operation”.

The Hualong One is an indigenous PWR. It incorporates elements of China National Nuclear Corporation’s ACP1000 and CGN’s ACPR1000+ reactor designs.

Fangchenggang-3 achieved first criticality on 27 December and was connected to the grid for the first time on 10 January. Construction of the plant, which is owned and operated by Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Company, a joint venture of CGN and Guangxi Investment Group, began in 2015.

A total of six reactors are planned to operate at the Fangchenggang site, close to the border with Vietnam. Units 1 and 2, which began commercial operation in 2016, are both CPR-1000s. Units 3 to 6 will all be Hualong One reactors.

Apart from Fangchenggang-3 and a sister unit Fangchenggang-4, China has eight other Hualong One units under construction domestically at four sites – two each at Zhangzhou, Changjiang, Taipingling and Sanaocun (also known as Zhejiang Sanao and San’ao).

The country has two Hualong One units in commercial operation at Fuqing in Fujian province, southeastern China.

There are two Hualong One plants in operation outside China, both in Pakistan at the Kanupp nuclear station, also known as Karachi. They began commercial operation in May 2021 and April 2022.

In the list of expanding nuclear countries, China stands at the top with 19 reactors under construction. It is followed by India with eight, Russia with four and South of Korea with three. Currently, the countries with most reactors in operation are the United States with 92 and China and France with 56.

In 2021 China’s nuclear fleet provided 5% of the country’s electricity production.

China Sees 10 Reactor Approvals In 2022

China is seeking to increase its installed reactor capacity to 70 GW by 2025, up from 51 GW at the end of 2020 and an increase of more than 40%.

In September, China approved four new reactors at two new nuclear power stations in the south of the country, taking the total number of newly sanctioned nuclear power units to 10 in 2022, the highest yearly number in more than a decade, state news agency Xinhua and the China Nuclear Energy Association said.

The projects were the construction of two CAP1000 units as Phase I of the Lianjiang nuclear power station in Guangdong province, southern China, and two Hualong One units as Phase II of the Zhangzhou nuclear station in Fujian province. The CAP1000 is the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 plant

In April, China approved the construction of six new commercial nuclear power plants.

CGN said the new units would include two Hualong One plants at Lufeng in the southern province of Guangdong. The other four units will be CAP1000 plants.

The control room at the Fangchenggang-3 nuclear power plant in China. Courtesy CGN.