Inner dome installed at first Zhangzhou Hualong One

28 October 2021

The inner safety dome was yesterday installed on the containment building of unit 1 of the Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has announced. Zhangzhou unit 1, the first of two Hualong One units at the site, is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2024.

The hoisting of the dome onto the top of Zhangzhou unit 1's containment building (Image: CNNC)

The steel dome - measuring 45 metres in diameter and almost 14 metres in height, and weighing about 260 tonnes - was raised by crane and placed on top of the walls of the double containment structure. An outer dome will subsequently be installed over the inner one.

CNNC said the installation of the dome is an important milestone in the construction of nuclear power projects. The dome is located on top of the nuclear island. Its main function is to ensure the integrity and leak tightness of the reactor building, and it plays a key role in the containment of radioactive substances.

The company noted that, with the installation of the inner dome now complete, the project has now "shifted from the construction stage to the installation stage."

The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was installed at Zhangzhou 1 earlier this month. At that time, CNNC said the main nuclear island equipment - including the RPV and steam generators - were now in place, "a prerequisite for the subsequent dome hoisting and main pipeline welding."

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued construction licences for Zhangzhou units 1 and 2 on 9 October 2019 to CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, the owner of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project which was created by CNNC (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%) in 2011. The licences are valid for 10 years. Construction of unit 1 began one week after the issuance of the construction licence, with that of unit 2 starting in September 2020. The units are scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

CNNC began construction of two demonstration Hualong One units at its Fuqing plant in Fujian province in May and December 2015, respectively. The first of these, Fuqing 5, was connected to the grid on 27 November last year, having achieved first criticality on 21 October, and entered commercial operation on 30 January this year. Fuqing 6 is expected to begin operating by the end of 2021.

Construction of two demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) units is also under way at China General Nuclear's Fangchenggang plant in the Guangxi Autonomous Region. Those units are expected to start up in 2022. CNNC has also started construction of the first of two Hualong One units at Taipingling in Guangdong.

Two HPR1000 units are under construction at Pakistan's Karachi nuclear power plant. Construction began on Karachi unit 2 in 2015 and unit 3 in 2016; the units are planned to enter commercial operation in 2021 and 2022.

Chernobyl waste facility nears operation

27 October 2021

Final testing is underway at the facility which will receive, process and dispose of solid radioactive waste from the decommissioning of Chernobyl. "This is a very important event," said the acting director general of Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Valery Seyda. "The last 'long-term construction' at the site is finally moving towards completion."

Chernobyl 4 will be dismantled remotely within the New Safe Confinement with the resulting wastes handled by the new facility (Image: Chernobyl NPP)

"From now we will fully work in all directions: with fuel, liquid waste, and with solid waste," said Seyda.

The forthcoming facility is officially known as the Industrial Complex for the Solid Radioactive Waste Management (ICSRM). It will process and store some wastes already present at the site, as well as wastes from the dismantling of unit 4, which will take place under the New Safe Confinement structure.

The final stage of 'hot testing' began yesterday, Chernobyl NPP announced, explaining it will be working with real radioactive materials under conditions as close to future operation as possible.

The ICSRM comprises four facilities. 'Lot 0' is temporary storage for low- and intermediate-level long-lived waste as well as high-level waste. This is within the Liquid and Solid Waste Storage Facility and was commissioned in 2010.

'Lot 1' will retrieve solid wastes from an existing solid waste storage facility. It will handle 3 cubic metres of waste per day over an operational life of 30 years.

'Lot 2' will sort solid wastes and process low- and intermediate-level wastes at the rate of 20 cubic metres per day. Some solid and liquid wastes will be incinerated, and some will be cemented. It can package 1.5 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level long-lived waste per day, and can store 3500 cubic metres of them and high-level waste.

'Lot 3' is a near-surface storage facility for low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste with a capacity of 55,000 cubic metres. It will accept waste for 30 years and store it for 300 years.

The facility has been in commissioning since May 2014.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News