China Manufactures AP1000 Components To Westinghouse Criteria

Posted by NucNet on 12 June 2014 in NucNet

China has successfully manufactured a steam generator and a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for an AP1000 reactor and both have passed hydrostatic testing and meet Westinghouse’s quality criteria, the China State Nuclear Power Technology Company (SNPTC) has said.

The RPV passed pressure testing on 8 June 2014 and the steam generator passed hydrostatic testing on 21 May 2014, SNPTC said.

SNPTC said this shows that Chinese domestic enterprises have “fully mastered” the key manufacturing technology and quality management needed for Generation III nuclear reactor components.

This lays a “solid foundation” for the industrial production and manufacturing capacity for components for the CAP1400, a Chinese Generation III reactor based on the AP1000 design, SNPTC said.

The components were manufactured by China First Heavy Industries for the Hayiang-2 and Sanmen-2 AP1000 nuclear units being built in Shandong and Zhejiang province respectively.

The steam generators and RPVs for Haiyang-1 and Sanmen-1 were manufactured by South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries.

Haiyang and Sanmen nuclear power stations will both have two AP1000 units provided by Westinghouse.

Construction of Haiyang-1, and Sanmen-1 and -2 began in 2009, and construction of Haiyang-2 began in 2010.

In April 2014, the China National Nuclear Safety Administration approved the construction of two more AP1000 units at Xudabao, a new site in Liaoning province.