China's first nuclear power project to introduce private capital participation to usher in a new milestone

China News Service, Beijing, November 10 (Reporter Pang Wuji) The reporter learned from China General Nuclear Power Group on the 10th that on that day, the main project of Unit 4 of CGN Zhejiang Sanao Nuclear Power Project officially started.

The Sanao Nuclear Power Project is located in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is the first "Hualong One" project in the Yangtze River Delta region and the first nuclear power project in China to introduce private capital participation. The No. 4 unit that started construction this time belongs to the second phase of the San'ao Nuclear Power Project and is the third nuclear power unit officially started by CGN this year. The unit was approved by the state on August 19, 2024. It uses China's "Hualong One" third-generation nuclear power technology with completely independent intellectual property rights. After completion, the annual power generation is expected to reach 9 billion kilowatt hours, which can meet the annual production and living electricity needs of about 1 million people.

Du Yanhui, chairman of CGN Cangnan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., said that on the premise of ensuring safety and quality, the on-site team continued to use multiple measures such as process iterative optimization, intelligent tooling upgrades, and minor improvements to ensure that the construction nodes were advanced as planned with high quality. Since the construction of the project, a number of advanced technologies such as prefabricated detachable retaining walls and embedded parts hot heading technology have been applied. In the future, advanced construction technologies such as modular construction and automatic welding will be applied.

It is reported that the Sanao Nuclear Power Project plans to build 6 "Hualong One" units, which will be constructed in three phases. Currently, 4 units have been approved. Among them, Unit 1 has been officially put into power generation, Unit 2 has completed its first nuclear fuel loading, and Unit 3 is undergoing construction of the main structure of the factory surrounding the nuclear island. The overall construction is progressing steadily as planned. After all six units are completed, the annual power generation capacity is expected to exceed 54 billion kilowatt-hours, which is close to 80% of the current total annual electricity consumption of Wenzhou City. It can equivalently reduce the consumption of standard coal by more than 16.35 million tons and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 50 million tons per year.

As an important clean energy base in the southern wing of the Yangtze River Delta, the Sanao Nuclear Power Project is expected to provide guarantee for the green and low-carbon transformation of the Yangtze River Delta and the high-quality development of computing hubs and smart economies.