Next stage will see hoisting into place of containment dome
The fourth and final steel ring of the main containment building wall has been installed at Unit 3 of the Sanmen nuclear power station in the eastern province of Zhejiang, developer Sanmen Nuclear Power Company said.
Sanmen-3 is the first CAP1000 nuclear plant under construction in China. The CAP1000 is China’s version of the Westinghouse AP1000 Generation III+ pressurised water reactor design.
The first three steel rings were installed in June 2024. Workers will now need to hoist the dome of the steel containment in place, but no schedule for that has been announced.
The Sanmen station already has two commercially operational Westinghouse AP1000 units since 2018 – Sanmen-1 and Sanmen-2.
First concrete was poured for Sanmen-3 in June 2022. In March 2023, first concrete was poured for the nuclear island of twin Sanmen-4.
China has 30 commercial nuclear power units under construction.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s reactor database says the number is 25, but does not include Ningde-5, Shidaowan-1, Xudapu-2 in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, where first concrete was poured earlier this month, or Jinqimen, where China National Nuclear Corporation said in February that construction of two units had begun.
The country has China has 56 commercial reactors in operation, the same number as France and second only to the US, which has 94.
