Unit 3 at Qinshan Phase II Nuclear Power Plant (Qinshan II-3) was put into commercial operation on October 21. It marks a major breakthrough of China's independent design in nuclear power industry, means the country s full control of the engineering and construction of the improved second-generation pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant, and has laid a solid foundation for further grasping the third-generation nuclear power technology, training core personnel and promoting the independence of nuclear power industry during the period of nuclear power development.
Mr. Sun Qin, General Manager of CNNC, said that Qinshan II was the first nuclear power station launched during the period of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. The project includes Units 3 and 4, both of which have an installed capacity of 650 MWe. In Qinshan II, the corporation has enhanced the independent innovation capacity on the basis of units 1 and 2 at Qinshan II, and translated the four "Independents" into reality, namely independent design, independent construction, independent management and independent operation. It has established an important platform and paved the way for the independent work of the third-generation nuclear power technology.
According to Deputy Chief Engineer Zhang Xingtian of CNNC Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture Company Limited, thousands of improvements have been maded under the Ten Technical Improvements on the basis of units 1 and 2 in Qinshan II, including Main Feedwater Isolation, first applied in China, and passive dehydrogenation recombiner technology. The overall level of safety performance of nuclear power units has been enhanced.
Zhang said, The successful operation of Unit 3 indicates that the CP600 has met the latest high requirements of the nuclear safety regulations and the construction specifications. Our technology is already state-of-the-art.
Yang Lanhe, General Manager of the Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture Company, said that through technical improvement, the design load factor of Qinshan II-3 and 4 (a ratio of actual generating capacity to the maximum capacity) would increase from 65% to 75%, a big improvement in safety and cost reduction.
With independent design, Qinshan II, in accordance with relevant state regulations, is mainly constructed domestically. In this project, domestic development and technology introduction for domestic manufacturing are performed and encouraged, and the domestic production ratio rises from 55% in units 1 and 2 to 77%, laying a solid foundation for domestic manufacturing of million-kilowatt and third-generation nuclear power plant.
What s more, the construction of Unit 3 has actually taken 53 months and 7 days, 6 months and 23 days ahead of the 60-month schedule, creating the shortest record of nuclear power plant construction, said Yang.
The management and operation of nuclear power plant are complex. Yang added, In Qinshan II, we improved our Standard-based, Programme-based and Information-based management system step by step and provided systematic support for constructing internationally advanced nuclear power plant. At the same time, we mainly rely on their own staff and technical forces to achieve commissioning and operation integration, well preparing for the safe operation of the unit.
It is understood that the Qinshan II-4 is at the commissioning stage. Phase II is expected to be fully completed and put into commercial operation in 2012. By then, Qinshan II-4 will have a total installed capacity of 2.6 GWe and an annual generation capacity of 18 to 20 TWe, forming the largest nuclear power base in China with Qinshan I and III.
Zhang Tao, Deputy General Manager of CNNC, said that at present, China had become the world's largest nuclear power country. As the main force of China's nuclear power construction, CNNC adheres to independent innovation, and is following the approach of "Applying, Developing and Pre-researching the Same Generation" to promote the development of more advanced nuclear power technology such as the third generation nuclear power, fast reactors and fusion reactors, so as to gradually turn China into a real nuclear power.
