China’s Hualong One nuclear reactor goes into service

China now ‘a country that has truly mastered independent third-generation nuclear power technology’, CNNC party chief says

Almost 90 per cent of the equipment used in Hualong One, including all elements of its core, was made in China, company says

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Each of the nuclear power units in Fuqing have the capacity to produce enough electricity to power a country with a population of 1 million. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:00pm, 31 Jan 2021Updated: 8:43pm, 31 Jan 2021

The first of China’s Hualong One third-generation pressurised water nuclear reactors went into commercial operation on Saturday, according to its developer China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

Construction of the home-grown reactor in Fuqing in the southeastern province of Fujian began in 2015 and it was connected to the grid in November last year.

“China has become a country that has truly mastered independent third-generation nuclear power technology after the United States, France and Russia,” Yu Jianfeng, CNNC’s Communist Party secretary, said in a statement.

Almost 90 per cent of the equipment used in Hualong One, including all elements of its core, was made in China, CNNC said.

“We must not only export our own nuclear power but also build it according to our own standards, so that we can’t be controlled by others,” chief designer Xing Ji said.

China is the world’s third-largest producer of nuclear power, with its 49 operational reactors boasting 51 gigawatts of capacity last year. A further 19 reactors are under construction, which once completed will add 20.9GW of capacity, according to the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA).

Almost 90 per cent of the equipment used in Hualong One, including all elements of its core, was made in China, CNNC said. Photo: Xinhua

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