Demonstration of a Chinese AP1000 derivative moved a step closer with a joint venture project company. Construction of the first CAP1400 is scheduled for April 2013.
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One reactor is envisaged in the first stage of the demonstration project, to be made real at a site near Weihei in Shandong Province. The pressurized water reactor is to be a development of a Westinghouse design currently being imported with its generating capacity boosted from 1100 MWe to 1400 MWe. Four of the US-designed reactors were ordered in 2007, with technology transfer a major part of the deal.
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.jpg "CAP-1400 (SNPTC)") |
| The deal is struck in Beijing, yesterday (Image: SNPTC) |
The State Nuclear Power Corporation (SNPTC) will take the lead with 55% of the project company. The other stakeholder will be Huaneng Nuclear Power Development Corp, a subsidiary China Huaneng Group, one of China's largest power companies. The partners hope their first CAP1400 will begin operation in December 2017.
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CAP1400 is expected to be deployed on a scale never before seen in the nuclear industry, with Chinese manufacturing firms establishing module factories amounting to production lines for their fast construction. Beyond CAP1400 could come a further 1700 MWe variant.
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China aims to have a nuclear capacity of 120-160 GWe by 2030 with the bulk of this coming from AP1000 variants and the CPR-1000, a development of French technology imported earlier.
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