4 Mar (NucNet): First concrete has been poured in a ceremony at the site of a new nuclear power plant in China’s Fujian Province, the Chinese government has announced.
The government said the concrete-pouring ceremony for the second generation 1,000-megawatt Chinese-type pressurised water reactor (CPR1000) unit was on 18 February 2008. The first phase of Ningde’s construction will comprise four CPR1000 units.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that construction officially started on the unit, named Ningde-1.
Ningde-1 will be operated by the Ningde Nuclear Power Company. It is being built on an island in the East China Sea near the city of Ningde and about 143 kilometers from the provincial capital of Fuzhou.
The project is a joint development by Guangdong Nuclear Power Investment, a subsidiary of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, Datang International Power Generation and the Fujian Coal Industry group.
The government said it expects the first unit to be commissioned in 2012 and for all four generating units to be operational by 2015, by which time they are expected to generate some 30 terawatt hours of electricity annually.
According to the government, the chairman of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Qian Zhimin estimates the total investment in building all four units at the site to be the equivalent of about 6.9 billion US dollars (4.5 billion euro).
China has 11 reactor units in commercial operation and six officially declared as under construction (Lingao-3 and -4, units 3 and 4 of Qinshan phase two, Hongyanhe-1 and Ningde-1).
– Compiled by John Shepherd
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
China Reports 3% Increase In Nuclear Generation For 2006 (News No. 21, 25 January 2007)
Concrete Poured For Qinshan Phase Two Unit Four (News No. 31, 6 February 2007)
Concrete Poured At First Nuclear Plant In China’s North-East (News No. 200, 23 August 2007)
