Construction has officially begun the SanAo nuclear plant in China’s Zhejiang province as concrete was poured into the nuclear island of unit 1 at the plant. SanAo 1 will be the first of six Hualong One pressurized water reactors to be built at the site. Site surveys at the construction site began 13 years ago and the National Energy Administration approved the project in 2015. In December of 2020, the executive meeting of the State Council approved the construction of units 1&2, and the National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a construction permit for the units on 30 December. Yuan Jiajun, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress, ordered the start of construction the next day.
Also Read: China connects first Hualong One to grid.
With the new construction of the SanAo 1 nuclear plant, China now has an accumulated total of seven Hualong One units under construction. These include Fuqing 6, which is scheduled to go online later on in 2021. China National Nuclear Corporation(CNNC) is also constructing one unit (the first of two) at Taipingling in Guangdong and two at Zhangzhou in Fujian province. China General Nuclear (CGN) is building two at its Fangchenggang site in Guangxi province. The world’s first Hualong One reactor at unit 5 of China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC’s) Fuqing nuclear plant in Fujian Province was connected to the grid in November.
CGN Party Secretary, Chairman and General Manager Yang Changli stated that “CGN will use the strength of the entire group to give full play to the advantages of more than 30 years of continuous nuclear power construction and the construction experience of the Hualong One, to carry out the political responsibility for nuclear safety, and to build quality projects in conjunction with the participating units of the SanAo nuclear power project,”
