Dome of a nuclear power generation unit belonging to the Xudabao Nuclear Power Project is installed, Huludao City, northeast China's Liaoning Province, July 25, 2023. /CFP
Dome of a nuclear power generation unit belonging to the Xudabao Nuclear Power Project is installed, Huludao City, northeast China's Liaoning Province, July 25, 2023. /CFP
China recently has approved six new nuclear power generation units, four of which will adopt the country's third-generation nuclear power technology, the Hualong One.
The six units have been approved to expand three existing plants in northeast China's Liaoning Province, and east China's Shandong and Fujian provinces.
For the first half of 2023, the cumulative power generation of nuclear power units in China is 211.9 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), accounting for over 5 percent of the country's power generation, an increase of 7 percent over the same period in 2022, according to data released by the China Nuclear Energy Association on July 28.
Hualong One under batch construction
China's Hualong One has been under batch construction these years, with several nuclear power units built at the same time. It is estimated that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), the Hualong One nuclear power units put into operation in China will exceed 10, according to a China Media Group report.
A single Hualong One nuclear power unit can generate nearly 10 billion kWs of electricity annually, which can meet the demand of 1 million people, said Yang Changli, chairman of China General Nuclear Power Corporation.
It cant save the equivalent of 3 million tonnes of standard coal and reduce 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, Yang added.