The Shidaowan High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) nuclear power plant is being built in Shandong Province (China). The project is developed by China itself, and the project investors are China Huaneng Group, Tsinghua University and China National Nuclear Corporation.

High-temperature gas-cooled nuclear power is also known as generation 4 nuclear power. The main feature of generation 4 reactors is that the nuclear fuel is in the form of a small tennis ball-sized sphere, each reactor has up to 430,000 pellets. This sphere has a diameter of 6cm and inside are 12,000 fuel pellets of 1mm size. Inside the pellet is a very small fuel core and 4 ceramic shells. The temperature of the fuel pellet does not exceed the temperature of the ceramic shell.

Each sphere has the energy equivalent of 1.5 tons of coal and allows continuous operation without the need to temporarily shut down the reactor for refueling. The reactor is cooled with inert helium gas instead of water, which enhances safety.

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The world's first fourth-generation nuclear power plant. Photo: CGTN

The plant began commercial operation in December last year and is preparing to launch an expansion project. Zhang Aijun, vice president of HTGR Nuclear Power Company, said the first phase of the expansion project is to install another domestically developed third-generation pressurized water reactor, Hualong One, which will operate with a gas-cooled reactor.

Each reactor has a capacity of 1.2 million kW. Once completed, the plant is expected to generate 20 billion kWh per year.

Future expansion plans include the addition of four additional pressurized water reactors, each with a capacity of over 1 million kW.

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Construction site of phase 1 of the expansion project. Photo: CGTN

According to Mr. Zhang, when completed, the total installed capacity of the power plant will exceed 5 million kW, with an annual power generation capacity of 35 billion kWh, enough to supply electricity to more than 17 million households for a year. This is equivalent to offsetting 11.5 million tons of standard coal consumption and 27.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The plant representative said that it will maximize the efficiency of the third-generation pressurized water reactor and the fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, further enhancing China's nuclear power equipment manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance capabilities. In addition, the plant is continuously expanding the scenarios for comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy and developing nuclear power technology.

(According to CGTN)

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