Beijing has most nuclear plants under construction globally
The inner steel containment dome has been hoisted into place for at Unit 3 of the Sanmen nuclear power station in Zhejiang province, eastern China.
Developer China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said the move means that civil construction of the main internal structure of the containment building of Unit 3 “has been basically completed”.
The dome, a steel component that weighs about 788 tonnes, was installed on 6 September, CNNC said.
Workers can now begin installing the main equipment for the unit’s nuclear island, the company said.
Sanmen-3 is the first CAP1000 nuclear plant under construction in China. The CAP1000 is China’s version of the Westinghouse AP1000 Generation III+ pressurised water reactor design.
First concrete was poured for Sanmen-3 in June 2022. In March 2023, first concrete was poured for the nuclear island of twin Sanmen-4.
The Sanmen station already has two commercially operational Westinghouse AP1000 units since 2018 – Sanmen-1 and Sanmen-2.
China has 30 commercial nuclear power units currently under various stages of construction.
