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02 Aug 2021
Unit 5 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning province of China has completed commissioning tests and fulfilled the conditions to enter commercial operation, China General Nuclear (CGN) said. The company now has 25 power reactors in commercial operation with a combined production capacity of 28,261 MWe.
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Hongyanhe 5 control room workers mark its entry into commercial operation (Image: LHNPC)
At 9:32 p.m. on July 31, the nationally designed 1080 MWe ACPR1000 pressurized water reactor completed a series of commissioning tests, including a 168-hour test, CGN said. Although the company still has to obtain the necessary permits and documentation, the unit can now be considered to be in commercial operation.
CGN said that the engineering design of Hongyanhe 5 fully implemented the nuclear safety requirements introduced after the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power station. It implemented 36 technical improvements such as high-level passive cooling water sources, emergency water supplies and emergency mobile power supplies. The ACPR1000 design, he said, has the main technical characteristics of third generation nuclear power plants with enhanced safety features.
In terms of equipment location, Unit 5 uses the nationally designed Hemu digital control system, which “extends the application of household equipment to key technical areas”. The overall localization rate of Hongyanhe 5 and 6 units reached 85%, CGN noted.
Construction of phase I (units 1-4) of the Hongyanhe power plant, comprising four CPR-1000 pressurized water reactors, began in August 2009. Units 1 and 2 have been in commercial operation since June 2013 and May 2014 , respectively, while Unit 3 entered commercial operation in August 2015 and Unit 4 in September 2016.
Phase II of the Hongyanhe plant – units 5 and 6 – comprises two ACPR-1000 reactors. Construction of Unit 5 began in March 2015 and that of Unit 6 began in July of the same year. Cold functional testing of Unit 5 began on October 10, 2019, marking the start of its commissioning phase.
At the end of December 2019, the CGN announced a change in the start-up schedule for units 5 and 6. It specified that the units should then enter service in the second half of 2021 and in the first half of 2022, i.e. one year respectively. and six months later than expected.
Hongyanhe 5 reached the first criticality on June 13 of this year and was connected to the power grid on June 25. Unit 6 is currently undergoing hot functional tests.
The Hongyanhe plant is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Company (LHNPC), a joint venture between China General Nuclear and State Power Investment Corporation, each holding a 45% stake, with Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Company holding the remaining 10%.
“Commercial operation of Unit 5 will further optimize the power structure of northeast China and increase the proportion of clean energy,” LHNPC said. “According to calculations, with five units currently in service, the annual power on the grid can reach 37.5 billion kWh, which is equivalent to about 15% of the annual power consumption of Liaoning Province.”
Research and writing by World Nuclear News
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