Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant | |
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Unit one and two with the construction site of unit three and four
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Country | People's Republic of China |
Coordinates | 34°41′13″N 119°27′35″E / 34.68694°N 119.45972°ECoordinates: 34°41′13″N 119°27′35″E / 34.68694°N 119.45972°E |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | 1999 |
Commission date | May 17, 2006 |
Owner(s) | Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation |
Nuclear power station | |
Reactor type | PWR |
Reactor supplier | Atomstroyexport |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 2 × 1000 |
Units under const. | 2 × 1000 MW |
Units planned | 2 × 1000 MW 2 × 1200 MW |
Tianwan Nuclear Power Station (Chinese: 田湾核电站/田灣核電站) is a large nuclear power station in Lianyungang prefecture level city, Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. It is considered to be the largest nuclear plant on mainland China. It is located on the coast of the Yellow Sea approximately 30 kilometers east of Lianyungang proper.
The nuclear power plant consists of two reactor units each rated at 1,000 MW capacity and constructed by Russia's Atomstroyexport. The first reactor began full operations in 2006 and the second in 2007. According to a news report of RT, the IAEA has referred to the station as the "safest nuclear power plant in the world".
Construction commenced on 20 October 1999 for the first unit, and on 20 October 2000 for the second reactor unit. The first reactor went critical on 20 December 2005. Construction of the second reactor finished in May 2007 and commercial operation began in August. This is the first time the two countries have co-operated on a nuclear power project.
On 23 November 2010, Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation signed a contract with Atomstroyexport according to which Atomstroyexport will supply 1060 MWe VVER-1000 reactors for units 3 and 4. Construction of unit 3 was delayed by the 2011 nuclear accident in Japan, but finally began in December 2012.
Both units use VVER pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology supplied from Russia. Together they cost approximately US$3.3 billion. The units are the Russian standard reactor type VVER-1000/392 (also carries the designation of VVER-1000/428) adapted specifically for China.
These VVER 1000 reactors are housed in a confinement shell capable of being hit by an aircraft weighing 20 tonnes and suffering no expected damage. Reactors also received additional protection from earthquakes. Other important safety features include an emergency core cooling system and core confinement system. Russia delivered initial fuel loads for the Tianwan reactors. China planned to begin indigenous fuel fabrication for the Tianwan plant in 2010, using technology transferred from Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL.