At 12:17:30 on October 31, as the loop pressure was stabilized at 22.3Mpa on the platform and no leakage was found 10 minutes later, the Hualong One demonstration project -- the Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant No 1 unit -- achieved a complete success in the loop water pressure test.

A cold run test is one of the important milestone nodes in the construction of a nuclear power plant. Its success in this case indicates that the boundaries of the loop pressure of the Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant No 1 unit are complete and are well sealed, and the successful test of the installation quality of related equipment pipelines means that the unit has fully entered the commissioning stage after completion of installation. At the same time, it has also laid a solid foundation for the follow-up thermal test, reactor charging and grid-connected power generation of the unit.

The loop water pressure test of a nuclear power plant aims to verify the integrity and sealability of pressure boundaries of the high-pressure parts such as the welding of the loop pipelines, the equipment and its connected system. During the test, three main pumps need to be started for loop heating, which verifies the cold performance of the main pump.

A calling card of China’s nuclear power industry, Hualong One is an important achievement of CNNC in accelerating the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and implementing the national “dual carbon” strategy. It is also the first reactor project of the world’s third-generation nuclear power plants to be completed and put into operation on schedule. Its first four units have all been completed and put into operation, which indicates that China’s nuclear power technology has reached the leading level of the world. At present, the domestic batch construction of Hualong One is progressing smoothly, and Hualong One has become one of the most competitive third-generation nuclear power models in the current nuclear power market in the world. Each nuclear power unit of Hualong One is designed to generate more than 10 billion KWH per year, which can meet the annual production and household electricity consumption demand of 1 million people in medium-developed countries. At the same time, it is equivalent to reducing the consumption of standard coal by 3.12 million tons and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 8.16 million tons per year, equivalent to planting more than 70 million trees.

The Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant No 1 unit is the first Hualong One batch construction project. In order to ensure the successful completion of the cold run test of the unit, Zhangzhou Energy Co., Ltd. and related units have tackled the key issues one after another and strictly implemented the regulatory requirements of nuclear safety under the supervision and guidance of the East China Nuclear and Radiation Safety Supervision Station of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. As the general contractor of the project, China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. has set up a special design and construction optimization team to completely optimize and improve the process system, equipment design and manufacturing, and project construction, and has completed more than 120 items of improvement, of which 20 major improvements have been successfully applied. China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Co., Ltd. set up a special team to do solid work before the cold run test so as to create all necessary conditions and ensure smooth test success.