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Containment Dome Installed At China’s Fangchenggang-3 Hualong One Reactor

By David Dalton
23 May 2018

Containment Dome Installed At China’s Fangchenggang-3 Hualong One Reactor
The containment dome being installed at Fangchenggang-3 in China.

24 May (NucNet): The dome has been installed on the containment building of Unit 3 at the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant under construction in Guangxi province, southern China, China General Nuclear said.

The unit is the first of two demonstration Generation III Hualong One, or HPR1000, reactors being built at the site.

The steel dome – 45 metres in diameter, 14 metres in height, and weighing about 260 tonnes –was raised to a height of more than 60 metres before being lowered on to the top of the containment building walls. The dome is a vital part of ensuring the integrity and sealing of the reactor building.

Construction of Fangchenggang-3 began in December 2015 and of Fangchenggang-4 in December 2016.

The two units will serve as reference units for the proposed Bradwell B plant in the UK, CGN said.

The Hualong One is undergoing the generic design assessment in the UK to verify its suitability. The Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency announced in November last year the start of the second, technical, phase of the assessment programme.

In total, six units are planned for the Fangchenggang site. Units 1 and 2 are both domestic CPR-1000s and already in commercial operation. Units 3 and 4 are Hualong Ones and units 5 and 6 will be Westinghouse AP1000s.

In China, there are two indigenous designs based on a French predecessor used in China in the 1990s. China National Nuclear Corporation developed the ACP1000 and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation, now China General Nuclear Power, developed the ACPR1000.

The Hualong One is essentially the ACP1000 with some features from the ACPR1000.

In 2016, CNNC and CGN formed a 50-50 joint venture company – Hualong International Nuclear Power Technology Co – to market the Hualong One.

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