Reactor vessel installed at Lianjiang unit 2

State Power Investment Corp (SPIC) said the reactor pressure vessel of unit 2 was successfully hoisted into place on Wednesday, "marking the start of the equipment installation phase for both units of the first phase of the project".

The vessel - with a net weight of about 270 tonnes - will house the nuclear reactor and is the core of a nuclear power plant.

_{(Image: SPIC)}

The construction of the first two 1250 MWe CAP1000 reactors - the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 - at the Lianjiang site was approved by China's State Council in September 2022. Excavation works for the units began in the same month, with the pouring of first concrete for the foundation of unit 1 starting in September 2023 and that of unit 2 in April last year. Unit 1 - whose reactor pressure vessel was installed in February last year - is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2028.

Once all six CAP1000 units planned at the site are completed, the annual power generation will be about 70.2 TWh, which will reduce standard coal consumption by more than 20 million tonnes, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 52 million tonnes, sulphur dioxide by about 171,000 tonnes and nitrogen oxides by about 149,000 tonnes.

SPIC says the Lianjiang plant - the first coastal nuclear power project developed and constructed by SPIC in Guangdong - will be the first nuclear power project in China to adopt seawater secondary circulation cooling technology as well as the first to use a super-large cooling tower.