Building of nation's largest nuclear plant 'right on track'
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Taishan Clean Energy (Nuclear Power) Equipment Industrial Park has direct transport links with the rest of the Pearl River Delta region. |
Construction of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant is right on track, according to the website of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co Ltd, one of the nation's two major nuclear power plant operators.
The initial section of a steel liner in the first reactor building has been lifted into place and the concrete foundation recently poured at the second reactor building, it said.
Located in Chixi township about 44 km from downtown Taishan, the plant is the first nuclear power project in China to use third-generation EPR (European pressurized reactor) technology from French nuclear energy provider Areva Group.
When complete the facility is expected to be the largest nuclear power plant in the country.
Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co - the largest of all Sino-French joint ventures in the nation - was founded late last year with a registered capital of about 16.7 billion yuan. Vice premier Li Keqiang and visiting French Prime Minister Francois Fillon were present at the ceremony in Beijing. It owns and will operate the first phase the Taishan nuclear power project.
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co Ltd has a 70 percent stake in the venture, with the remaining 30 percent held by Electricite de France.
Requiring an investment of about 50.2 billion yuan, the first phase of the project will have two generating units, each with 1.75 gW of installed capacity.
Areva Group is building the two units modeled on its third-generation EPR currently under construction in Flamanville, France.
The firm signed an 8 billion euro ($9.54 billion) agreement with Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company in 2007 in the presence of President Hu Jintao and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to build two new-generation reactors and to provide all materials and services required for operation.
The first generating unit is expected to come online in late 2013 and the second in October 2014. Each unit is designed to generate power about 26,000 gWh annually, capable of meeting the demand of a medium-sized city.
When all three phases are complete, the Taishan nuclear power plant will have six generating units.
(China Daily 06/09/2010 page15)
