China's latest new reactor

China's latest new reactor

Concrete pouring cranes arc over the ceremony (Image: CGNPC)

A ceremony last week saw the official start of work on Ningde 3, the 21st nuclear project underway in China.

The reactor joined two others at Ningde as officially under construction    on 8 January, while approval for unit 4 as the last of Phase I build was signed off by officials at the same time.

Addressing 500 people at the 'first concrete' ceremony, general manager of the Ningde Nuclear Power Company Li Yinong said the power plant would avoid the use of 12 million tonnes of coal per year. He said this equates to a saving of 27 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, compared to using the fossil fuel.

Li's firm is a project company to manage the construction and later operate the reactors. It is 51% owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company with Datang International Power Generation and Fujian Coal Group taking the balance of equity.

All four Ningde units are of the CPR1000 design of pressurized water reactor, which produces 1080 MWe. Work on unit 1 started in February 2008 and has now reached the point of containment dome installation. Unit 2 began in November 2008 and was said to be at the peak of works. The construction of unit 4 is to start in mid-July this year. They will all come online between late 2012 and 2015.

With the addition of two reactors in Phase II, six reactors are eventually for the site, which spans three islands near Fuding city in Fujian province.

China's drive for localisation of nuclear technology has reached a new peak with this project, CGNPC reported. Some 80% of components for Ningde 3 will be sourced from Chinese suppliers, including for the first time the entire digital control system.