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Areva to start Taishan work in August

By Wan Zhihong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-28 08:08

Marc de Andolenko

Work on the Taishan nuclear power plant, located in the southern province of Guangdong and being built with third generation technology is expected to start in August this year.

The first reactor is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013, while the second one is likely to be finished in mid-2014, Marc de Andolenko, president of Areva China, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Andolenko said the preparatory work for the Taishan project has been "going well".

French nuclear group Areva had in 2007 signed an 8-billion-euro agreement with the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp for the supply of the two reactors. The reactors, will use the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) technology and have a capacity of 1,700 mW each.

At present Areva has started building two other three-generation nuclear power plants respectively in Finland and France. Using the same technology for the Taishan project, they can "offer valuable experiences for the Chinese plant during the construction process", said Andolenko.

China has decided to use the third generation nuclear power technology to build six reactors in the country. Besides the two in Taishan, the other four include a pair in Sanmen in Zhejiang and two in Haiyang in Shandong.

The four reactors in Zhejiang and Shandong will use the AP1000 technology from the US-based Westinghouse. China finalized an agreement with Westinghouse two years back for the four reactors.

Although details of the Westinghouse deal have yet to be officially announced, media reports estimate that the agreement, the first example of large-scale Sino-US nuclear cooperation, was worth $8 billion.

In April, China started the construction of the Sanmen project in Zhejiang. The first phase of the project will include two units each with a capacity of 1,250 mW.

China earlier planned to increase its nuclear power capacity to 40 gW by 2020, accounting for 4 percent of the nation's total power capacity. However, in line with the rapid development of the sector, the target was reportedly revised to 70 gW.

Related readings:  Areva powers up 'ultra high-voltage' production  Areva aims to transform nation's power industry  China to sign nuclear power pact with Areva  Areva may get nuclear contract

Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and director of the National Energy Administration (NEA), said earlier that China would start construction of four nuclear power plants this year, including the three using the three-generation technology.

As the world's second largest energy consumer, China has put an increasing focus on the construction of third-generation nuclear reactors in recent years. In 2007, the country set up the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp Ltd (SNPTC), which is mainly responsible for the domestic development of nuclear power using advanced third-generation technology from overseas.

Although Westinghouse's technology is different to that of Areva in terms of its design, compared with the first or second-generation technology ones, it offers two distinct advantages: greater safety and improved fuel efficiency, said Fu Manchang, a veteran nuclear analyst.