Two Russia-designed VVER-1200 units under construction at site
Flushing of the primary cooling system has begun at the Tianwan-7 nuclear power plant under construction in Jiangsu province, eastern China, according to Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
The operation involves pumping demineralised water through the circuits – including the active and passive safety system – to remove construction debris. It is the last step in installing the primary system.
Rosatom said the next stage will be assembly of the reactor system for the VVER-1200 pressurised water reactor (PWR) plant.
The reactor pressure vessel was hoisted into place in October 2023, while welding of the main circulation pipeline was completed in November 2024.
There are two Russia-designed VVER-1200 Generation III+ PWR units under construction at Tianwan. Construction of Tianwan-7 began in May 2021 and Tianwan-8 in February 2022.
According to Rosatom, after reactor assembly, other commissioning milestones will include cold and hot functional testing. However, the statement did not give an expected timeframe.
The Tianwan station has another six PWR units in commercial operation. Units 1 to 4 were built by Russia using its VVER-1000 PWR technology. Units 5 and 6 are China’s indigenous CNP-1000 PWR design.
