First concrete has been poured for the nuclear island of unit 4 at the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China's Shandong province. It marks the official start of construction of the second of two CAP1000 pressurised water reactors planned as Phase II of the plant.

The first concrete is poured for Haiyang 4's nuclear island basemat (Image: SNERDI)

The pouring of concrete began on 22 April and was completed on 24 April. During the continuous operation - which lasted 51 hours and 10 minutes - a total of 5512 cubic metres of concrete was poured, China Nuclear Industry 24 Construction Company said.

The construction of two new reactors at each of the Sanmen, Haiyang and Lufeng nuclear power plant sites was approved by the China's State Council on 20 April last year. The approvals were for Sanmen units 3 and 4, Haiyang 3 and 4 and units 5 and 6 of the Lufeng plant. The Sanmen and Haiyang plants are already home to two Westinghouse AP1000 units each, and two CAP1000 units - the Chinese version of the AP1000 - were approved for Phase II (units 3 and 4) of each plant.

An aerial view of unit 4's basemat (Image: SNERDI)

In May 2022, China National Nuclear Corporation signed contracts for the civil construction of the nuclear islands and installation engineering for the planned second phases of the Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear power plants. China Nuclear Industry 22 Construction Company was contracted to carry out the civil construction of the Sanmen Phase II nuclear island, while China Nuclear Industry 24 Construction Company will conduct the civil construction of the Haiyang Phase II nuclear island. Meanwhile, China Nuclear Industry Fifth Construction Company (CNI5) has been contracted to undertake the nuclear island installation work at all four units.

First concrete was poured for the nuclear islands of Sanmen 3 and 4 on 28 June 2022 and 22 March 2023, respectively. Construction of that for Haiyang unit 3 began on 7 July 2022.

The Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute noted that the planned construction period for Haiyang 3 and 4 was 56 months, so the two units "are scheduled to be fully operational in 2027".

Unit 1 of the Haiyang plant entered commercial operation in October 2018, with unit 2 following in January. Together, Haiyang units 1 and 2 provide some 20 TWh of electricity to the grid annually, sufficient to meet one-third of household demand in Shandong province.

"Since the first phase of the Haiyang Nuclear Power Project was fully put into operation in 2019, it has accumulatively generated more than 89 TWh, saved about 38 million tonnes of raw coal consumption, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by about 71 million tonnes," said China's State Power Investment Corporation. "After the second phase of the project is completed and put into operation, there will be four units in operation at the Haiyang plant, which can save about 17.1 million tonnes of raw coal consumption and about 32 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year."