The world's first unit of the AP1000 nuclear power plant located in Sanmen, in China’s Zhejiang Province started initial fuel loading, according to the nuclear reactor supplier Westinghouse, and Chinese partners on Wednesday.
Westinghouse Electric Company, China State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) and CNNC Sanmen Nuclear Power Company Limited (SMNPC) announced that the world's first unit of AP1000 nuclear power plant in Sanmen fuel loading began after receiving the fuel load permit from China's National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA).
'Today we have reached a tremendous milestone for Westinghouse and our AP1000 plant technology,' Jose Emeterio Gutierrez, Westinghouse president and chief executive officer was quoted as saying.
'This is the next major step in delivering the world's first AP1000 plant to our customers and demonstrating the benefits of our advanced passive safety technology to the world,' Gutierrez added.
According to Westinghouse's statement, Sanmen unit 1 has completed all the necessary functional tests as well as technical, safety and Chinese regulatory reviews.
The fuel load process will be followed by initial criticality, initial synchronization to the electrical grid, and conservative step-by-step power ascension testing, until all testing is safely and successfully completed at 100 percent power.
In 2007, Westinghouse successfully won the bid for China's generation III+ nuclear power projects to build two units of AP1000 reactors in Sanmen, Zhejiang Province and two units in Haiyang, Shandong Province.
By Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr