Site in northeast of country will eventually have six Hualong One reactors
Concrete pouring for the nuclear island has begun at Unit 2 of the Zhaoyuan nuclear power station in Shandong Province, northeastern China, marking the official start of main works, China General Nuclear (CGN) said.
According to CGN, about 8,800 cubic meters of concrete will be placed in a continuous pour expected to last some 60 hours.
Zhaoyuan-2 will be a 1,117 MW Hualong-One, or HPR1000, nuclear unit. Construction of an identical unit, Zhaoyuan-2, began in November 2025.
Units 1 and 2 at Zhaoyuan are the first phase in a major project to build six Hualong One units at the site.
The Hualong One is a domestically developed pressurised water reactor that combines features from China National Nuclear Corporation’s ACP1000 and China General Nuclear’s ACPR1000+ designs.
According to the CGN, the Zhaoyuan plants are the first Hualong One nuclear units to feature a cooling tower system in their design.
CGN said the cooling tower will be 203 metres high with a water-spray surface of 16,800 sq m, replacing the conventional seawater system with an air-cooled arrangement to remove heat from the secondary circuit.
CGN said the use of cooling tower designs broadens siting options for future nuclear projects and provides a model for deployments where seawater or freshwater resources are limited.
Once all six units are in operation, the Zhaoyuan station is expected to supply about 50 TWh of electricity a year, meeting the needs of roughly five million people, CGN said.
The project is being constructed and will be operated by Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Company, a subsidiary of CGN.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, China has 60 nuclear units in commercial operation and 37 under construction, but those figures do not include Zhaoyuan-2.
China has set an ambitious nuclear energy target of 110 GW of installed capacity by 2030, up from about 58 GW today, and an expansion to roughly 200 GW by 2040.
