Taishan Nuclear Power Plant

Not to be confused with Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant.

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant 台山核电站
File:Taishan Nuclear Power Plant.jpg Taishan Units 1 & 2
Country	China
Location	Taishan, Guangdong
Status	Operational
Construction began	2009
Commission date	2018
Construction cost	50.2 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion)
Owner(s)	CGNPC (70%), EDF (30%)
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	PWR
Reactor supplier	Areva
Power generation
Units operational	2 × 1660 MW (net)
Nameplate capacity	3,320

The Taishan Nuclear Power Plant (Chinese: 台山核电站; pinyin: Táishān Hédiànzhàn) is a nuclear power plant in Taishan, Guangdong province, China. The plant features two operational EPR reactors. The first unit, Taishan 1, entered commercial service in December 2018. The second unit, Taishan 2, entered commercial service in September 2019. Delays at other EPR construction sites in Finland and France have meant that Taishan was the first nuclear power plant to have an operational EPR.

The project is owned by Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited (TNPC), which is 70% owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) and 30% by Électricité de France (EDF).

The plant's twin reactors each have a nameplate capacity 1750 MWe. Its Arabelle generators are the largest single-piece electrical generators in the world, each weighing 495 tonnes and built by Dongfang Electric. Of the 3500 MWe gross delivered, around 180 MWe will be used by plant systems. Most of this is used to power the pumps that feed water into the steam generators. The pair of reactors can deliver 3320 MWe net for supply to the grid, making these the most powerful reactors in the world.

History

Excavation work began on August 26, 2008. The first concrete for the first unit was poured in October 2009. Construction of each unit was planned to take 46 months, significantly faster and cheaper than the first two EPRs in Finland and France. These plans have proved elusive as start up was repeatedly delayed. In February 2017, after 88 months of construction, CGNPC announced that completion of the reactors would be delayed until the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.

Areva was contracted to develop the nuclear island (including reactor) and supply fuel for 15 years, as well as providing technology transfer and engineering services.

In December 2017, Hong Kong media reported that a boiler had cracked during testing, and that welding on the component was considered "problematic". Neither the nuclear plant's operators nor the manufacturer of the affected component responded to the news agency's request for comment. The boiler was later found to be a deaerator, which removes dissolved oxygen from water by heating it.

In January 2018 commissioning was rescheduled, with commercial operation expected in late 2018 and 2019. This was the third delay in two years, involving a further deferral of 5 billion yuan (US$770 million). It was estimated that the plant’s investment cost would rise to between 22 and 23 yuan per watt from an originally budgeted 14 yuan.

On April 9, 2018, the Official Letter of Approving the Initial Fuel Loading of the first unit of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant was issued by the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA). Taishan Unit 1 began fuel loading at 18:18 on April 10, marking the beginning of fuel loading of the first reactor using the third-generation nuclear power technology EPR.

First criticality was achieved at Taishan Unit 1 on June 6, 2018. On June 29, 2018, Taishan 1 was connected to the grid. It became the first EPR to enter commercial operation on December 13, 2018.

On March 2, 2021, the Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration reported that a "level 0" incident occurred on Februrary 21, which caused Unit 1 to SCRAM automatically. Post-accident investigation revealed the cause of the SCRAM to be a technician accidentally shorting a circuit during an onsite investigation of a slight under-voltage of a 10kV power supply. To prevent this accident from occurring in the future, all nuclear power plants were ordered to revise operating procedures to improve reliability and maintainability of similar power supplies.

On April 11, 2021, the Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration reported that another level 0 incident occurred on April 5, resulting in the unexpected release of radioactive gas into the atmosphere. Post-accident investigation calculated the amount of radioactive release to contribute to 0.00044% of annual limit, well within safety parameters.

On June 14, 2021, CNN reported that the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant had a suspected leak, based on a report by Framatome communicated to the United States on June 8.. Said incident is the level 0 incident previously reported on April 11, 2021. Further details provided by Framatome revealed that the issue was build-up of xenon and krypton inert fission gases in the primary circuit of Taishan 1, potentially from a leak in a fuel rod housing. The build-up was described as "known phenomenon" which is well covered in the plant's operating and safety procedures. No radioactive gases has been released to the environment and the EPR reactor design used in Taishan is considered to be one of the safest in use.

On June 15, Japan reported that its radiation monitoring posts, the closest of which is at Yonaguni Island, did not measure any "abnormalities in data".

Li Ning, a nuclear scientist based in the United States, criticized CNN as "making a mountain out of a molehill", explaining that it was unrealistic to expect "zero failure" in the fuel claddings. Li extended the critic to the West media as "often unwilling to put risks into proper perspective", "killing" the Western nuclear industry.

On June 16 2021, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China released a conversation dialog with representative from the National Nuclear Safety Administration. There was estimated 5 out of 60,000 fuel rods (0.01%) in reactor core 1 suffered from cladding defects. The ratio was well within design maximum fault rate of 0.25%. CGN stated there had been no release of radiation from the plant, and the small increase in the level of radioactivity was confined to the primary coolant circuit.

Reactor data

The Taishan Nuclear Power Plant Phase I consists of two reactors: both reactors are in commercial operation. Its Phase II consists of adding two additional reactors.

Unit	Type	Model	Net power	Gross power	Thermal power	Construction start	First criticality	Grid connection	Commercial operation	Notes
Phase I
Taishan 1	PWR	EPR	1660 MW	1750 MW	4590 MWth	November 18, 2009	June 6, 2018	June 29, 2018	December 13, 2018
Taishan 2	PWR	EPR	1660 MW	1750 MW	4590 MWth	April 15, 2010	May 28, 2019	June 25, 2019	September 7, 2019

See also

• Nuclear power in China
• List of nuclear reactors#China