Monday, 28 April 2025
The construction of the reactors was approved during a 27 April meeting of the State Council, presided over by Premier Li Qiang.
China General Nuclear (CGN) announced it has received approval for Phase II (units 3 and 4) of its Taishan nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, as well as Phase III (units 5 and 6) at its Fangchenggang plant in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region. It said the four units will adopt its HPR1000 (Hualong One) pressurised water reactor technology. Taishan 3 and 4 will each have a capacity of 1200 MWe, while Fangchenggang 5 and 6 will have a capacity of 1208 MWe.
CGN said that it is currently “carrying out various preparatory work for the construction of the above-mentioned units in an orderly manner, the full construction of which will begin when the Permit for Nuclear Power Station Construction has been obtained from the National Nuclear Safety Administration”.
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said it had received approval for Phase III (units 5 and 6) at its Sanmen nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province. It plans to build two Hualong One reactors, each with a rated power of 1215 MWe.
The construction of two Hualong One units has also been approved at the Xiapu site in Fujian province as a joint project between CNNC and Huaneng Power International. Two CFR-600 sodium-cooled pool-type fast-neutron reactors are currently under construction at the Xiapu site.
The State Council also approved the construction of two CAP1000 reactors – the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 – as units 5 and 6 at the Haiyang site in Shandong province in a project led by State Power Investment Corporation. The site already hosts two AP1000 units, and two CAP1000 units are under construction.
According to China Daily, the ten newly approved reactor projects represent a combined investment of over CYN200 billion (USD27.4 billion).
The State Council has approved ten or more new reactors annually since 2022.
China currently has 58 operable reactors with a total capacity of 56.9 GW. A further 30 reactors, with a total capacity of 34.4 GW, are under construction, according to World Nuclear Association figures.
