Yangjiang 5 enters commercial operation

Unit 5 of the Yangjiang nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province has completed commissioning tests and now meets the conditions for entering commercial operation, China General Nuclear (CGN) announced yesterday. The unit is the first ACPR1000 reactor to be built and the first Chinese unit to feature a domestically-developed digital control system.

The control room of Yangjiang unit 5 (Image: YJNPC)

The 1000 MWe CGN-designed pressurised water reactor achieved first criticality on 16 May and was connected to the grid on 23 May.

Since then, a series of commissioning tests have been conducted at the unit, including a load test run and a demonstration run lasting 168 hours. Although CGN must still obtain necessary permits and documentation, the unit can now be considered to be in commercial operation. Yangjiang 5 becomes the company's 21st power reactor in commercial operation, with a combined capacity of 22.778 GWe.

Six units are planned for the Yangjiang site. The first four units are CPR-1000s, with units 5 and 6 being ACPR-1000s. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in March 2015, with units 2, 3 and 4 following in June 2015, January 2016 and March 2017, respectively. First concrete for Yangjiang unit 5 was poured in September 2013, with that for unit 6 following three months later. All six reactors should be in operation by 2019.

According to CGN, once all six units are completed at Yangjiang, the plant will generate some 48 billion kWh of electricity annually. Compared with the equivalent generation using fossil fuels, the plant will reducing the consumption of standard coal by 14.83 million tonnes and carbon dioxide emissions by 38.78 million tonnes.

The plant is owned and operated by Yangjiang Nuclear Power Company Limited (YJNPC), which is 29% owned by CGN Power, 30% by CGN Power subsidiary GNIC, 7% by CGN Power associate company CGN Industry Investment Fund Phase I, 17% by Guangdong Yudean Group and 17% by Hong Kong-based power company CLP Holdings Limited.

Researched and writtenby World Nuclear News