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Energy Central…
Unit 4 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in China entered commercial operation this past weekend after completing commissioning. It began supplying power to the country’s national grid on Dec. 22.
Tianwan NPP is the largest facility built with a Russian-Chinese framework of economic cooperation, with Units 1 through 4 based on the VVER-1000 reactor type. Units 1 and 2 entered commercial operation in 2007, and Rosatom handed over Unit 3 to Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp. (JNPC) in March of this year.
Tianwan Unit 4 was brought to its minimum controllable power level on Sept. 30, marking the final stage of first criticality procedures, which began Aug. 25 when the first fuel assembly was installed in the reactor. A total of 163 fuel assemblies were ultimately loaded.
Russia’s Atomstroyexport was general contractor for the project, working with JNPC. Alexey Bannik, vice president for projects in China with Rosatom’s engineering division, said the start of commercial operation of Unit 4 “means that a two-year warranty period for the plant operation has commenced, and once expired the Unit will ultimately be handed over to the Chinese Party.”…
China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) completed the dome lift at Fuqing Unit 5—the world’s first power plant being constructed utilizing the HPR 1000 (also known as the Hualong One) reactor design—15 days ahead of schedule on May 25.
The feat was no small accomplishment. The dome weighs about 340 metric tons and has a diameter of 46.8 meters (more than half the length of a U.S. football field). It was said to be the world’s largest and highest dome lift ever undertaken at a nuclear construction site (Figure 1). The dome—composed of 153 prefabricated components divided into five layers—ensures the integrity of the unit’s reactor building.
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1. Up, up, and away. The hemispheroid dome was lifted into place on Fuqing Unit 5’s reactor building on May 25. Courtesy: CNNC |
“That the dome was lifted 15 days in advance proves that CNNC can construct the HPR 1000 which is a national key project in the field of nuclear power,” Wang Shoujun, chairman of CNNC, said in a press release.…
Nine people, including the chairman and chief engineer of the Fengcheng power plant, have been arrested following a scaffold collapse that killed 74 construction workers on November 24.
The scaffold platform had been erected to facilitate work on a cooling tower that was being constructed at the plant located in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province. According to a CCTV newscast, more than 60 people were working on the platform, and more than a dozen were on the ground waiting for their 7 a.m. shift to start, when the scaffold collapsed.
China orders safety overhaul after power plant accident in Jiangxi killed 74 https://t.co/G3KfkVluIx https://t.co/D6K8nFAEZB pic.twitter.com/Jzdu1Jv2pw
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 28, 2016
China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that the victims ranged in age from 23 to 53 years old, with most under the age of 36. More than 300 rescuers, two drones, four sniffer dogs, and seven cranes were said to have been involved in the search and rescue effort.…
News agencies are reporting that an explosion at a coal-fired power plant in Dangyang, a city in central China, has killed at least 21 people and injured five others, three seriously.
The event is said to have occurred around 3:20 p.m. local time on August 11. The facility—designed to generate thermal power and sell slag, ash, and petroleum products—is owned by Madian Gangue Power Generation Co. Some sources suggested that the plant is in the process of being commissioned and was undergoing testing at the time of the incident.
Steam pipe explosion at central #Hubei , #China power station kills 21, injures 5
pic.twitter.com/syqbBlhKCa
— Mete Sohtaoğlu (@metesohtaoglu) August 11, 2016
It has been difficult to establish specifics about the blast. An investigation is said to still be in progress. Initial reports identified the plant as a chemical facility, but it was later determined to be the coal power plant site. Although several sources have suggested that the event was triggered when “a high-pressure steam pipe exploded,” the number of casualties, ensuing fire, and volume of black smoke shown in pictures posted on Twitter that are said to be of the event, suggest that something much more explosive initiated the incident.…