Status Under construction Construction began 2010 | Units planned 4 × 1250 MW | |
 | ||
Country People's Republic of China Location Tongshan County, Xianning, Hubei Owner(s) Hubei Nuclear Power Co. Reactor type AP1000 Pressurized water reactor | ||
The Xianning Nuclear Power Plant (Chinese: 咸宁核电站) is under construction in Dafanzhen, Tongshan County, Xianning, Hubei Province, China. It is planned to host at least four 1,250-megawatt (MW) AP1000 pressurized water reactors.
The plant is owned by Hubei Nuclear Power Company, a joint venture of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) and Hubei Energy Group Ltd. The cost of four AP1000 reactors is put at CNY 60 billion (US$8.8 billion). Work on the site began in 2010; the first reactor will start construction in 2011, and go online in 2015.
The plant is described as the first nuclear power plant to be built in China's inland regions (i.e., not near the sea coast). The plant is expected to use the water of the Fushui Reservoir for cooling and various ancillary purposes.
The station's four cooling towers, some of the largest in the world, will have the base diameter of 169 metres and the height of 209 metres.
Transportation access
There are no railways or navigable waterways within the station's vicinity. (The Fushui River is not navigable). In order to facilitate the delivery of heavy equipment (such as the reactor pressure vessels or electric generators) to the construction state, a major highway construction and upgrade project is being undertaken. The so-called Xianning Nuclear Plant Site Large Equipment Transport Road (咸宁核电厂大件运输公路) will connect the station's construction site with the Panjiawan Harbor (潘家湾港) on the Yangtze River in Jiayu County. The road, which will include sections of existing roadways as well as newly constructed sections, will be 102.1 km long. The road will include a newly constructed 366-m long, 9-m wide overpass over the Beijing–Guangzhou Railway, designed to carry loads of up to 930 tons.