Nuclear Power Plants Come Online in China and Russia
David Wagman | January 03, 2018
Tianwan Unit 3. Source: CNNC
Unit 3 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province linked to the grid at the end of December. The Russian-supplied VVER-1000 is scheduled to enter commercial operation later in 2018.
Meanwhile, Russia's latest nuclear power reactor, Rostov 4, reached criticality and minimum controlled power in late December. It is Russia's 36th reactor in a fleet that meets about 18 percent of the country's electricity demand.
Both events were reported by World Nuclear News.
Tianwan 3 and 4 are AES-91 VVER-1000 units designed by Gidropress and supplied by Russian state nuclear company Rosatom. AtomStroyExport is the main contractor, supplying the nuclear island. First concrete for Unit 3 was poured in December 2012, while construction of Unit 4 began in September 2013. Two similar VVER-1000 reactors (Units 1 and 2) began operating at the site in 2007.
Power output from the reactor will be maintained at 25 percent. Dynamic tests will later be ramped to 100 percent capacity. Once initial testing at full thermal capacity is complete, demonstration operation will take place at nominal capacity for 100 hours. Preliminary acceptance is the starting point of a two-year warranty period for Tianwan 3 operation.
The State Council gave its approval for the third phase of the Tianwan plant (Units 5 and 6) — both featuring Chinese-designed 1080 MWe ACPR1000 reactors — in December 2015. First safety-related concrete was poured for Unit 5 later that month and for Unit 6 in September 2016. Unit 5 is expected to enter commercial operation in December 2020 and Unit 6 in October 2021.
Rostov units 1-4. Source: RosatomThe Rostov plant in Russia is on the banks of the Tsimlyansk reservoir, near the city of Volgodonsk. Four 1,000 MWe VVER pressurized water reactors have been planned at the Rostov site since the early 1980s. Units 1 and 2 began commercial operation in March 2001 and October 2010. Unit 3 was connected to the grid in December 2014.
Wonderful and the USA wants Solar and Wind. Why don't we get smart? Should ban all power boats also and use sail boats.
It would appear that only totalitarian Govts, for whom cost is no concern, can build Nuclear plants these days, and all still the old technology, can't ramp up quickly, so can't fit in with the latest major technologies, which is Solar and Wind, both a quarter, or really a tenth of the cost of Nuclear if you separate subsidies, so why bother wasting all that money on a non-team member if you are running a national grid?
Better spend the money more wisely on developing other renewable technologies that fill in the gaps between Wind and or Solar, and there are many good contenders out there.