Six reactors planned for site in south of country
First concrete has been poured for the nuclear island of the Bailong-2 nuclear power plant in China, marking the official start of construction.
Reports in China’s state media said the concrete was poured at 18:27 local time on 27 September for Unit 2 at Bailong, also known as Guangxi Bailong, in the autonomous region of Guangxi in the south of the country.
The nuclear island is one of two primary zones of a power station. It houses the reactor core and safety systems.
First concrete for the conventional island – the non-nuclear zone housing the turbine generator and electrical balance of plant – was poured in August.
Pouring the first concrete for the nuclear island represents the baseline event used by international regulators and industry databases to track a reactor’s official construction start date and schedule.
A total of six reactors are planned to operate at the Guangxi Bailong site. Units 1 and 2 are both CAP1000 pressurised waters reactor (PWR) units and units 3 to 6 are planned to be CAP1400 PWR plants. The CAP1000 is China’s indigenous version of the Westinghouse AP1000 PWR nuclear plant.
Guangxi Bailong is about 24 km from the border with Vietnam and about 30 km from the Fangchenggang nuclear power station, where four units began commercial operation from 2016 to 2024.
Guangxi Bailong is owned by the State Power Investment Corporation through its subsidiary Guangxi Nuclear Power Company. The massive six-unit project represents an estimated total investment of about $60bn (€51bn).
China’s state media has said the first two units at Guangxi Bailong will cost about $5.6bn and are expected to take 56 months to complete.
Bailong-2 and a number of other units where construction began in recent months are is not listed in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s database of nuclear plants in China. The database says China has 60 plants in commercial operation and 37 under construction.
