Chinese engineers on Saturday started loading fuel into the second power generation unit of the country's Zhangzhou nuclear power project in eastern Fujian Province.
The fuel loading process is a critical step that separates non-nuclear tests from nuclear tests and is one of the final stages before grid connection and commercial power generation.
The Zhangzhou nuclear power project is China's largest base using Hualong One technology, a domestically-developed third-generation reactor design. The project consists of six nuclear power units, with Unit 1 already in commercial operation and Unit 2 expected to begin generating electricity in the fourth quarter of this year.
Once completed, the first phrase of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project will deliver 20 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually.
"The Unit 1 of the first phrase has been put into commercial operation and is operating smoothly. Unit 2 is in the final sprint toward commercial operation, and it is expected to be completed for commercial operation this year. Construction of Units 3 and 4 under Phase II is also progressing rapidly, with civil construction at their peak," said Huo Xiaodong, deputy general manager of China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. and chief designer of the Hualong One reactor.
Each Hualong One nuclear power unit can produce more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to meet the electricity needs of one million people in a moderately developed country. This is the equivalent of reducing standard coal consumption by 3.12 million tonnes annually and carbon dioxide emissions by 8.16 million tonnes per year.
China's Hualong One has become the world's most deployed third-generation nuclear reactor technology, with 41 units currently in operation or under construction globally.
China starts loading fuel into Zhangzhou nuclear power plant's Unit 2
