CNNC lifts containment dome onto Lianjiang 1 reactor in Guangdong
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has lifted the outer dome onto the double-layered containment building of unit 1 at the Lianjiang nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, the company said.
The steel structure measures about 41 metres across and 11 metres high, with a total lifting weight of close to 1,000 tonnes.
CNNC is building the site on behalf of the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). China's State Council cleared construction of the first two reactors at Lianjiang in September 2022, each a 1,250 MWe CAP1000 unit derived from the Westinghouse AP1000 design. CNNC has set 2028 as the target year to complete unit 1 and bring it into operation.
SPIC says Lianjiang will be the first nuclear project in China to use seawater secondary circulation cooling, and the first to deploy a super-large cooling tower.
The CAP1000 is the domestically engineered version of the Westinghouse AP1000 pressurised water reactor. With the dome now seated on unit 1, work shifts toward installation of equipment inside the containment building ahead of the 2028 commissioning date set out by CNNC.
Lianjiang's cooling configuration, as described by SPIC, pairs seawater secondary circulation with a super-large tower, a combination the company says has not previously been deployed at a Chinese nuclear station. The 1,250 MWe rating for each of the two approved CAP1000 units at the site was set out in the September 2022 State Council approval.
Source: world-nuclear-news.org (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink