China's first nuclear-powered industrial steam supply project began operation on Wednesday in the city of Lianyungang, eastern China's Jiangsu Province, said China Atomic Energy Authority.
ZHENG YIBING Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province "This is China's first nuclear-powered industrial steam supply project. Named as 'Heqi-1', it is located at the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in eastern China's Jiangsu Province."
Heqi-1's working mechanism goes like this: its heat source is the steam generated from the turbine system of power units. Instead of generating power, Heqi-1 will use this steam to produce industrial steam via a multi-layered isolation system. The industrial steam will then be transported through pipelines to the petrochemical industrial base via multi-stage heat transfer.
ZHANG YI Chairman, Jiangsu Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. "This is the very first application of such scale in the world. Unlike those before, the Heqi-1 can produce 600 tons of industrial steam in just one hour. For this, we overcame many technical difficulties and made breakthroughs to ensure the quality of the industrial steam – like in the heat transfer and the long distance."
The targeted industrial park for the project is some 23 kilometers away from the power plant.
WAN FALIN General Manager, Jiangsu Fangyang Energy Technology Co., Ltd "We researched on long-distance transportation and adopted a new way of thermal insulation. The nuclear-powered industrial steam fills the need gap in the industrial park. It is stable, and also achieves the goals of carbon reduction."
The project is expected to deliver 4.8 million tons of zero-carbon steam annually from the power plant to the petrochemical base of Lianyungang.
China National Nuclear Corporation says this project will reduce the equivalence of combustion of 400,000 tons of standard coal each year, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than one million tons, sulfur dioxide by 184 tons, and nitrogen oxides by 263 tons.
Developed in collaboration with various partners, Heqi-1 is expected to serve as a model of clean industrial steam supply for the petrochemical industry and inject new impetus into high-quality development in China.
Zheng Yibing, CGTN, in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province.
