Approved! The National Ordinary Session approved 5 nuclear power projects with a total of 11 units!
On August 19, Premier Li Qiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council and decided to approve five nuclear power projects including the Jiangsu Xuwei Phase I Project.
The meeting emphasized that safety is the lifeline of nuclear power development. It is necessary to continuously improve the technical level of nuclear power safety and risk prevention capabilities, strengthen safety supervision in the entire chain and all fields, ensure that nuclear power safety is foolproof, and promote the long-term healthy development of the industry.
It is understood that the five nuclear power projects approved this time are CNNC Jiangsu Xuwei Phase I Project, CGNPC Guangdong Lufeng Phase I Project, Shandong Zhaoyuan Phase I Project, Zhejiang Sanao Phase II Project, and State Power Investment Corporation Guangxi Bailong Phase I Project., a total of 11 nuclear power units, the number reaching a record high. Among them, China Nuclear Corporation has 3 units, China General Nuclear Power Corporation has 6 units, and State Power Investment Corporation has 2 units.
Adopt more advanced nuclear power technology independently developed by my country
The 11 newly approved units are located in Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province, Shandong Province, Zhejiang Province, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, all of which are coastal provinces.
The Jiangsu Xuwei Nuclear Heating Power Plant project approved this time belongs to China Nuclear Corporation. The project is located in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province. The first phase of the project plans to build two Hualong No. 1 pressurized water reactor nuclear power generating units and one high temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power generating unit.
The project adopts the combination of my country's third-generation nuclear power technology Hualong-1 and the fourth-generation nuclear power technology high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with completely independent intellectual property rights to build a nuclear energy heating system, and innovatively adopts the "nuclear reactor-turbogenerator set-heating system" Collaborative operation mode, upon completion, will supply large-scale high-quality low-carbon industrial steam to the Lianyungang trillion-level petrochemical industrial base.
Shandong Zhaoyuan, Guangdong Lufeng, and Zhejiang Sanao projects belong to China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group. Six units are planned to be planned, including Shandong Zhaoyuan Units 1 and 2, Guangdong Lufeng Units 1 and 2, and Zhejiang Sanao Units 3 and 4. Among the six nuclear power units, the "Hualong-1" unit dominates, marking important progress in the batch construction of my country's independent third-generation nuclear power "Hualong-1".
According to estimates, the annual power generation capacity of a single "Hualong-1" nuclear power unit is nearly 10 billion kilowatt-hours, which can meet the annual production and living electricity needs of 1 million people. It can reduce standard coal consumption by more than 2.7 million tons every year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 7.4 million tons, which is of great significance to promoting green energy transformation and ensuring that the "double carbon" goal is achieved as scheduled.
The first phase of Guangxi Bailong Nuclear Power Project belongs to the State Power Investment Corporation. It is located at the southernmost tip of the Jiangshan Peninsula in Fangchenggang, with the east, south and west sides facing the sea. Units 1 and 2 of the first phase of Guangxi Bailong Nuclear Power Project adopt CAP1000 third-generation passive nuclear power technology. The single unit has a capacity of 1.25 million kilowatts. The planned construction period is 56 months. The investment for the two units is about 40 billion yuan.
It is understood that the CAP1000 is the implementation result of the second step of my country's "three-step" national strategic decision to introduce, digest, absorb and re-innovate third-generation nuclear power. Based on the introduced third-generation AP1000 passive nuclear power technology, the Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Institute has independently designed and improved localized advanced nuclear power unit models with standardized design, fully realizing the autonomy of design, equipment localization, and engineering construction of a million-kilowatt third-generation passive large commercial nuclear power plant. Its successful research and development marks that my country has fully mastered passive nuclear power technology.
my country's nuclear power projects are advancing in an orderly manner
On August 11, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council officially issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development"(hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") to systematically deploy the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
The "Opinion" pointed out that "accelerate the construction of clean energy bases such as northwest wind power and photovoltaics, southwest hydropower, offshore wind power, and coastal nuclear power." In the top-level national document, it is clearly stated that it will accelerate the construction of coastal nuclear power clean energy bases.
Among the provinces involved in the nuclear power projects approved this time, many provinces have included large-scale nuclear power projects in the local "14th Five-Year Plan".
Guangdong, where the Lufeng Nuclear Power Project is located, proposed in the "14th Five-Year Plan for Energy Development of Guangdong Province to efficiently build the first phase of Huizhou Taipingling Nuclear Power Project on the premise of ensuring safety, actively and orderly promote the start of Lufeng Nuclear Power, Lianjiang Nuclear Power and other projects, and promote preliminary work for subsequent projects.
Shandong, where the Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project is located, proposed in the "14th Five-Year Plan for Energy Development of Shandong Province to focus on building a 10 million kilowatt nuclear power base on the Jiaodong Peninsula and actively promote the development of Haiyang, Rongcheng and Zhaoyuan three major nuclear power sites, the Rongcheng High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor and Guohe No. 1 Demonstration Project were built, and the Phase II of Haiyang Nuclear Power was started. By 2025, the installed capacity of nuclear power will reach 5.7 million kilowatts.
On the premise of ensuring safety, my country's nuclear power projects are advancing in an orderly manner. For two consecutive years from 2022 to 2023, the number of nuclear power units approved each year will reach 10 units. From 2019 to 2021, 6, 4 and 5 nuclear power units were approved respectively. The number of the five nuclear power projects approved this time has reached 11, setting a record high.
Data from the China Nuclear Energy Industry Association shows that as of June 30, 2024, a total of 56 nuclear power units are in operation in my country (excluding Taiwan), with an installed capacity of 58,218.34MWe (rated installed capacity). From January to June 2024, the cumulative power generation of operating nuclear power units nationwide was 212.261 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 0.18%; the cumulative on-grid electricity was 199.895 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 0.49%. Compared with coal-fired power generation, nuclear power generation from January to June 2024 is equivalent to reducing the burning of standard coal by 60.4482 million tons, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 158.3742 million tons, sulfur dioxide by 513,800 tons, and nitrogen oxides by 447,300 tons.
As a clean energy source, nuclear energy has unique advantages and development potential in reducing coal consumption, effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and alleviating energy transmission pressure. The steady advancement of nuclear power projects will make more contributions to my country's realization of the "double carbon" goal and helping global energy transformation and sustainable development.
