Construction continues at Taishan nuclear plant

Major facilities including a reactor vessel are installed.

Construction work is progressing at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, which is being built by the Taishan Nuclear Power Plan Joint Venture Company. The company is 30% owned by the French firm, EDF, with the rest going to the Chinese utility, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation.

The building site for the first reactor has entered a new stage with the completion of the work installing the reactor vessel. The installation of four steam generators and the pressurizer inside the reactor building has also been completed.

The two European Pressurized Reactors currently under construction in Taishan are benefiting from the lessons learned at EPR reactor sites in Finland and France. These lessons helped to reduce the time taken to build the four steam generators by 40% compared to those having been built for other EPR reactors.

The primary circuit of the EPR reactor is made up of 4 identical loops connected to the vessel, each one including a steam generator, a pump and the associated pipes.