Fuel loading under way at second Zhangzhou unit

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued an operating licence for Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Unit 2 on 11 October. Dong Baotong, Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment and Director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, issued a licence to Zhangzhou Energy, and Zhang Kai, member of the Party Group and Deputy General Manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), attended the event. At 16:13 on the same day, workers began to load the first reactor nuclear fuel into Zhangzhou 2.

CNNC said the milestone marked "that the unit has entered the stage of commissioning the main system with nuclear power, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent unit criticality and grid-connected power generation". It noted the unit was scheduled to be put into operation in the fourth quarter of 2025.

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued construction licences for Zhangzhou units 1 and 2 on 9 October 2019 to CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, the owner of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project, which was created by CNNC (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%) in 2011. Construction of unit 1 began one week after the issuance of the construction licence, with that of unit 2 starting in September 2020.

_{Zhangzhou units 1 and 2 (Image: CNNC)}

In September 2022, China's State Council approved the construction of two further Hualong One units as Phase II of the Zhangzhou plant. First concrete for the nuclear island of unit 3 was poured in February last year, with that for unit 4 following in September.

Six Hualong One units are planned for the Zhangzhou site, in China's Fujian province.