Construction of the world's first commercial high-temperature gas-cooled reactor "Chilong 1" nuclear island begins

China News Service, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, November 6 (Reporter Gu Hua) The construction of the world's first commercial high-temperature gas-cooled reactor "Chilong 1" nuclear island was fully launched on the 6th at the Xuwei Nuclear Heating Power Plant in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, marking the entry of China's independent fourth-generation nuclear power technology into the stage of large-scale and commercial implementation.

Jiangsu Xuwei Nuclear Heating Power Plant is the world's first large-scale coupling project of nuclear energy and petrochemicals, the world's first coupling project of a pressurized water reactor and a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, the world's first "reactor-machine-heat" coordinated control model application project, and the world's first commercial application project of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.

The project is a nuclear power plant that mainly provides industrial heating and also takes into account power supply. It uses a combination of China's third-generation nuclear power technology "Hualong One" pressurized water reactor and fourth-generation nuclear power technology "Chilong One" high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with completely independent intellectual property rights. After the first phase of the project is completed and put into operation, it will supply 32.5 million tons of industrial steam annually, with a maximum power generation capacity of over 11.5 billion kilowatt-hours. It can reduce the burning of 7.26 million tons of standard coal and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by 19.6 million tons every year. It will provide Lianyungang with a large-scale supply of high-quality, low-carbon industrial steam for the trillion-level petrochemical industry base.

It is understood that high-temperature gas-cooled reactors have the advantages of inherent safety, environmental friendliness, and modular construction. They can be used for efficient green power generation, high-temperature process heat, large-scale nuclear hydrogen production, etc., and have a wide range of applications.

From experimental reactors and demonstration projects to the commercial promotion of Jiangsu Xuwei project, China's fourth-generation nuclear energy technology is accelerating towards large-scale industrial application. At the same time, the commercial application of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors will not only supply high-quality heat sources to the petrochemical industry on a large scale, but also promote the shift of China's nuclear energy from power generation to diversified supply, and will provide a scalable "Chinese solution" for the green transformation of global energy-intensive industries.