Ningde Nuclear Power Plant is located in Ningde, Fujian Province of China. It is the first island type nuclear power plant in China and also the first on the Taiwan Strait’s west coast.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approved the Ningde nuclear power project (NPP) in September 2006. The plant is being built in phases. Phase one includes four units with a capacity to generate 30 billion kWh per year. The first unit became operational in April 2013 followed by the second unit in May 2014.
The total investment on phase one is estimated to be CNY 52bn ($7.6bn). Fujian Ningde Nuclear Power Company (NDNP) was set up in 2006 to develop phase one of the Ningde NPP. China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation (CGNPC, 46%), China Datang Corporation (CDT, 44%) and Fujian Energy Group (FEG, ten percent) have stakes in NDNP.
China will have the third-largest number of nuclear power-generating units in operation in the world by 2020, with completion of Ningde Nuclear Power Plant. The United States and France are ahead of China in this context.
Ningde nuclear power plant construction and technology
The plant will be installed with six CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors (PWRs) rated at 1,080MW each. Phase one includes Ningde one to four units, while phase two includes Ningde units five and six.
“Phase one includes four units with a capacity to generate 30 billion kWh per year. The first unit became operational in April 2013.”
Ningde unit one is the first of the four Chinese-designed CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors being installed in the first phase of the plant. The construction of the first unit began in February 2008. The unit was connected to the grid in December 2012 and the commercial operations began in April 2013.
The first unit successfully completed the 168 hour Continuous Operation Assessment test and also completed the construction contract task. Uranium loading was done after getting permission from the National Nuclear Safety Administration.
Construction of unit two began in November 2008 and commercial operations were started in May 2014, after 168 hours of test runs, bringing the nuclear power plant’s installed capacity to 2,178MW. Construction of units three and four commenced in January 2010 and September 2010 respectively. Both the units are expected to be operational by 2015.
HOLLiAS-N Distributed Control System (DCS) is installed in the first unit of the Ningde Nuclear Plant. DCS is a control system where the controller elements are distributed throughout the system instead of centralisation. Each component’s subsystem is controlled by one or more controllers. The entire system of controllers is connected through a network for communicating, controlling and supervising.
The control system was supplied by Hollysys Automation Technologies. The plant includes the GP350 diesel generator set equipped with a Perkins engine. The engine comes with 400V, and is known for its low fuel consumption and small maintenance cost. The generator set includes maintenance-free lead-acid starting batteries, and is equipped with a fuel tank offering an operation base of eight hours.
The Ningde plant is also equipped with Alstom’s Emergency Diesel Generators featuring PA6-B engines. Alstom’s Arabelle technology will be used in the turbines of Ningde units three and four. The generators have an installed capacity of 1.09 million kW.
Financing the Chinese nuclear power project
The $7.6bn Ningde Nuclear Power Plant is co-funded by Guangdong Nuclear Investment Company (51%), Datang International Power Generation Co and Fujian Coal Group.
