4 Apr (NucNet): Russia’s Atomstroyexport has confirmed the schedule for four new Generation III+ VVER nuclear power units to be built at the Tianwan and Xudabao nuclear sites in China.
Construction of Tianwan-7 will begin in May 2021, Xudabao-3 in October 2021, Tianwan-8 in March 2022 and Xudabao-4 in August 2022, Alexey Bannik, vice-president of China projects at Atomstroyexport was quoted as saying in state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s Strana Rosatom newspaper.
“The target dates are very ambitious and meeting them will require clear and coordinated work by all the project participants,” Mr Bannik said.
Mr Bannik was quoted as saying commercial operation of the Tianwan units is scheduled for 2026 and 2027 while the first Xudabao unit will begin commercial operation in 2028.
Last month Rosatom, Atomstroyexport’s parent company, announced it had signed an agreement to build four new nuclear power units in China, with two at Xudabao in Liaoning Province, northeast China, and two at Tianwan in Jiangsu province in the east of the country.
Rosatom director-general Alexei Likhachev was quoted last year by the state-owned Tass news agency as saying that all four units will be Generation III+ VVER-1200 plants.
China has ambitious nuclear plans with an official target of 58 GW of installed nuclear capacity by 2020, up from almost 36 GW produced by 46 operational reactor units today.
According to Shanghai-based energy consultancy Nicobar, China’s goal is to have 110 nuclear units in commercial operation by 2030, but this target is likely to be adjusted in the next Five-Year Plan, the first draft of which will appear this year.
A forecast released earlier this week by the China Electricity Council said the country will fall short of its nuclear power generation capacity target for 2020.
The country’s installed nuclear power generation capacity is expected to reach 53 GW next year, below the 58 GW target, council vice-chairman Wei Shaofeng told an industry conference in Beijing, according to local media reports.
