The reactor pressure vessel has been successfully hoisted into position at unit 4 of the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China's Shandong province.

(Image: SPIC)

The reactor pressure vessel - which houses the nuclear reactor and is the core of a nuclear power plant - was hoisted by a 3200-tonne crawler crane and placed inside the CA04 module of the nuclear island reactor building on 18 November in process taking just under two hours.

State Power Investment Corporation said that installation of the vessel - measuring 10.3 metres in height, 6.4 meters in diameter and weighing 281 tonnes - marks "the beginning of the installation of the primary system equipment".

The construction of two new CAP1000 reactors - the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 - at each of the Haiyang, Sanmen and Lufeng nuclear power plant sites in China was approved by the country's State Council on 20 April 2022. The approvals were for Haiyang 3 and 4, Sanmen units 3 and 4 and units 5 and 6 of the Lufeng plant. The Sanmen and Haiyang plants are already home to two Westinghouse AP1000 units each.

In May last year, China National Nuclear Corporation signed contracts for the civil construction of the nuclear islands and installation engineering for the planned second phases of the Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear power plants. China Nuclear Industry 22 Construction Company was contracted to carry out the civil construction of the Sanmen Phase II nuclear island, and China Nuclear Industry 24 Construction Company contracted to carry out the civil construction of the Haiyang Phase II nuclear island. China Nuclear Industry Fifth Construction Company was contracted to undertake the nuclear island installation work at all four units.

Unit 1 of the Haiyang plant entered commercial operation in October 2018, with unit 2 following in January 2019. Together, Haiyang units 1 and 2 can provide some 20 TWh of electricity to the grid annually, sufficient to meet one-third of household demand in Shandong province.

The first safety-related concrete was poured for the nuclear island of Haiyang unit 3 in July 2022. The reactor pressure vessel was installed in unit 3 in December last year. Construction of Haiyang 4 began in April last year. The Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute said the planned construction period for Haiyang 3 and 4 was 56 months, with the two units scheduled to be fully operational in 2027.