China this week began construction on a new $ 17 billion nuclear power plant project for which it will install Russian nuclear reactors at the Xudabao project in northeast China, World Nuclear News reports.
The Xudabao 3 unit is the first of four units at the plant to see construction begin. Russia’s Rosatom will design the nuclear island and provide equipment. The Russian company will also provide commissioning services for the devices it has supplied. The Russians will also provide the construction and equipment for the Xudabao 4 unit, which construction is expected to begin in 2022.
The commissioning of the two units is currently planned for 2027 or 2028.
Construction of Xudabao Blocks 1 and 2 has yet to begin, according to World Nuclear News.
Last month, China had to shut down a nuclear power plant in Guangdong Province in the south because it was damaged. However, the operator insisted that the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant did not have any major safety issues.
A month earlier, French company Framatome, a subsidiary of French energy giant EDF, issued a statement on Taishan’s number 1 reactor, saying it was “helping to resolve a performance problem with the Taishan nuclear power plant.”
The Taishan nuclear power plant could develop into an “imminent radiological threat,” the part owner of the plant told the United States, CNN reported in mid-June, citing US officials and a letter from the French company it had received.
A week before the Chinese operator announced the shutdown for maintenance, France’s EDF, which holds 30 percent of the TNPJVC joint venture Taishan, issued a statement saying it would have closed the plant if it were in France .
“EDF’s operating procedures for the French nuclear fleet would result in EDF shutting down the reactor in France in order to properly assess the current situation and halt its development. In Taishan, the relevant decisions are made by TNPJVC, ”said the French company.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oil Genealogie
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