New Chinese nuclear unit Zhangzhou 1 starts supplying electricity to the grid

The first unit at the new Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in China’s Fujian province has reached an important milestone. Technicians connected the Hualong One unit to the grid so it could begin supplying electricity, five years after construction officially began. Four units are now under construction at the plant. The country will bring the second unit online next year and the other two by 2030. A total of 6 nuclear units with installed capacity of more than 7 GW are planned for the site. 

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that its Zhangzhou 1 unit began supplying electricity to the grid on 28 November. It is the first of four Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors currently being built at the site.

"Starting to supply electricity to the grid is an important step in China National Nuclear Corporation’s serial construction of Hualong One units. It also helps optimize the national energy mix and meet carbon targets," CNNC said in a press release.

After being connected to the grid, the nuclear unit, with an installed gross capacity of 1200 MW, will undergo a series of tests at different power levels. Once these are successfully completed, it will enter commercial operation. CNNC officially began construction of the first Zhangzhou unit in October 2019.

Four-unit nuclear power plant operating within 10 years?

The government decided to build the Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in 2014, planning two US-type AP1000 units. However, instead of construction starting in 2017, the project was delayed, and CNNC chose the domestic Hualong One reactor design, itself inspired by the AP1000. The country began building the first pair of units in 2019 and 2020, and construction of the second pair began this year.

"The total number of Hualong One nuclear units in operation and under construction at home and abroad has reached 33. This makes it the third-generation nuclear technology with the largest number of units in operation and under construction worldwide," CNNC said in its press release.

CNNC expects each unit to take just over 5 years to build, given that it is already on track to meet this schedule for the first unit. CNNC is therefore likely to build the new Zhangzhou plant, with four units and capacity of nearly 5 GW, within 10 years. China is also planning a third phase at Zhangzhou, which will add two more units and increase the plant’s capacity to more than 7 GW.