The Westinghouse-designed AP1000 reactor at unit 1 of China’s  Sanmen NPP in Zhejiang province is expected to reach criticality at the end of June and go into commercial operation by November, the official Science Daily reported on 12 June, citing Chen Hua, chairman of the China National Nuclear Power Corp (CNNP) .

China agreed in 2007 to build four AP1000 reactors, including two at Sanmen and two at Haiyang in Shandong province. The first was originally planned to startup at Sanmen in 2013, but design problems, supply chain bottlenecks and the need for additional safety measures caused delays.  Westinghouse was purchased by Canada’s Brookfield Business Partners after it filed for bankruptcy in 2017 due to delays and cost overrus at four AP1000 units  under construction in the USA. Two of these have at VC Summer been cancelled.

Westinghouse originally saw the AP1000s at Sanmen and Haiyang as this first of many and hoped to win more projects in China. However the delays and financial difficulties appear to have caused China to rethink these plans. According to a white paper presented by Nicobar Group in cooperation with the US Department of Commerce – International Trade, “China’s Nuclear Industry 2017-2018: A Tightly Coiled Spring”, Chinese utilities “appear to be abandoning the AP1000 technology tree”. The paper notes that between mid-2016 and late-2017 eight planned units previously designated as future AP1000s were switched to China’s indigenous HPR1000 design, including Zhangzhou 1-4, Taipingling 1-2 and Fangchenggang 5-6. The paper added: “Notably, these switches were not reported widely in the Chinese press or industry media, in direct contrast to how Chinese technological achievements in the nuclear space are normally treated. This suggests that the phenomenon isn’t being viewed or treated as a technological victory for the HPR1000 versus the AP1000 in a ‘USA technology vs. China technology’ matchup, but rather is an indication of the utilities’ vote of low confidence in Westinghouse and the AP1000 in general.”

China had previously also signed a contract with Westinghouse to build two AP1000 units at Xudabao, according to a World Nuclear Association report in October 2016. They were among six AP1000 reactors planned for the site. Parts that had been intended for the Taohuajiang plant in Hunan province - where four AP1000 units were planned - were subsequently earmarked for Xudabao. Manufacture of the steel containments for the first two Xudabao units was launched in July 2013 by Shandong Nuclear Power Equipment Manufacturing Co Ltd.

However, China on 8 June signed an agreement with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom for the construction of four Generation 3+ VVER-1200 reactors – units 3&4 at Xudabao nuclear plant in Liaoning province, and units 7&8 at the Tianwan nuclear station in Jiangsu province. Westinghouse was unavailable for comment on plans for the Xudabao site.  
Nevertheless, China appears to be going ahead with plans for its own CAP1400 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.  Two demonstration CAP1400 reactors are under construction at Shidaowan in Shandong province.

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  2016, the CAP1400 design passed the International Atomic Energy Agency's Generic Reactor Safety Review.  
Gui Liming, an expert on nuclear safety systems at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on 12 June that the CAP1400s  recently passed six major technological tests including those involving the passive safety system, according to a Ministry of Science and Technology report.

"The CAP1400 reactor has a power of 1400 to 1500 megawatts, a rate thought impossible by US companies for passive safety systems," Wang Yinan, a researcher with the Development Research Centre of the State Council, told the Global Times.

 

 

Date: Friday, 15 June 2018
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newschina-prepares-for-start-of-worlds-first-ap1000-6207502