Units planned 4 x 1100 MW | Units under const. 2 x 1100 MW Construction began 2009 | |
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Operator(s) Sanmen Nuclear Power Co. Similar Haiyang Nuclear Power Pl, Qinshan Nuclear Power Pl, Tianwan Nuclear Power Pl, Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Pl, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Pl | ||
The Sanmen Nuclear Power Station (Chinese: 三门核电站) is a nuclear power station under construction in Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province in China. Groundbreaking for the first and second units was held February 26, 2008.
Sanmen NPS will be the first implementation of the AP1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) developed by Westinghouse Electric Company. The contract was agreed in July 2007. Announcement of the project start came roughly twelve months after Westinghouse won a bidding contest over other companies. The contract for the new plant involved The Shaw Group (now Chicago Bridge and Iron), a minority shareholder in Westinghouse. Westinghouse is controlled by Japanese Toshiba. The Shaw Group will provide engineering, procurement, commissioning, information management and project management services. The first pair of reactors will cost more than 40 billion yuan (US$5.88 billion).
Excavation for the first unit was completed in September 2008. Quality of the pit was certified, putting the project 67 days ahead of schedule. Construction of Sanmen Unit 1 began on April 19, 2009, as the first 5,200 m³ of concrete were poured for the foundation, in a ceremony attended by State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) chair Wang Binghua and Westinghouse CEO Aris Candris. First concrete for Sanmen 2 was poured on December 15, 2009.
In June 2014, China First Heavy Industries completed the first domestically produced AP1000 reactor pressure vessel for the second AP1000 unit.
The units were originally projected to begin operation in 2014 and 2015. As of April 2015, a start date of 2016 is projected for both. One month later, the start date was put back to 2017. In January 2017 China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that the final reactor coolant pump had been installed with start of operations still foreseen for 2017.
