China National Nuclear Corporation subsidiary China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Corp (CNECC), which has been contracted to build the unit, said the first concrete for the unit’s basemat was poured on 5 September. It said the pour involves about 8,800 cubic metres of concrete and was expected to continue for about 60 hours.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the formal acceptance of the environmental impact assessment documents covering the site selection stage for the Zhaoyuan plant. Construction of Phase I (units 1 and 2) of the Zhaoyuan plant was approved by China’s State Council in August 2024. First concrete was poured for unit 1 in November 2025.
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(Image: CNNC)
The project is being constructed and operated by Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Company, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear (CGN). Zhaoyuan Phase I is CGN’s first nuclear power project in Shandong.
The plant, representing a total investment of about CNY120 billion (USD16.9 billion), will eventually house six Hualong One units. Each unit is expected to start generating power 50-60 months after the start of its construction. With a total installed capacity of 7.2 GWe, the plant is expected to generate 50 TWh of electricity annually – enough to meet the yearly needs of about five million people. It will be equivalent to cutting standard coal consumption by roughly 15.27 million tonnes and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 46.2 million tonnes each year, according to CGN.
CNECC noted the Zhaoyuan plant project marks the first application of secondary circulation large-scale seawater cooling systems at a nuclear power plant in China. Each unit will be equipped with a 203-metre-high high-level water-collecting natural draft cooling tower with a water-spraying area of 16,800 square metres, changing the direct cooling source of the conventional island of the nuclear power plant from the ocean to the atmosphere.
