State media puts cost of project south of Shanghai at $6.2 billion
The construction of the first phase of China National Nuclear Corporation’s Jinqimen nuclear power station has officially begun in Zhejiang province, eastern China.
The Jinqimen-1 and -2 project will have two indigenous Hualong One, or HPR1000 pressurised water reactor units, said Yicai Global, run by government-backed Shanghai Media Group.
According to Yicai Global, construction at the site, near Ningbo to the south of Shanghai, began on 18 February. Yicai Global put the cost of the project at $6.2bn (€5.7bn).
Jinqimen-1 and -2 were two of four plants given construction approval by China’s state council in December as Beijing pushes ahead with ambitious plans to increase its installed reactor capacity to 70 GW (gross) by 2025, up from about 53 GW today.
The state council also granted approval for Units 3 and 4 at China General Nuclear’s existing Taipingling nuclear power station in Guangdong province, southern China.
Press reports in China at the time said the approvals brought the number of green-lit nuclear plants in China in 2023 to 10, the same number approved in 2022.
In July 2023, the state council approved six new nuclear units to expand three existing stations in Shandong province, Fujian province and Liaoning province.
The state-run China Daily said the six approved units were Units 5 and 6 of the Ningde nuclear station in Fujian province, southeast China; Units 1 and 2 of the Shidao Bay station, also known as Shidaowan, in Shandong province, eastern China; and Units 1 and 2 of the Xudabu (also Xudapu or Xudabao) station in Liaoning province, northeast China.
Fastest Expanding Nuclear Generator In World
According to International Atomic Energy Agency data, China has 55 nuclear plants in commercial operation and 23 under construction, not including Jinqimen.
In 2022 the nuclear fleet provided about 5% of the country’s electricity production.
Over the past decade China has added 37 nuclear reactors, according to the IAEA. During that same period the US, which leads the world with 93 reactors, added two.
The IAEA says China is the fastest expanding nuclear power generator in the world.
Beijing is trying to curb its reliance on coal, which pollutes the air and is hard to transport from the coal mines in the west and north of the country to the economically developed southeast coast, where China is building most of its reactors. With nuclear, it plans to increase energy security, lower its reliance on coal and oil and limit CO2 emissions while keeping up with its economic growth, the IAEA said.
