China today installed a pressure vessel -- a key component of the country's first fourth-generation nuclear energy system -- at a plant in eastern Shandong Province.
The pressure vessel of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) was put in place at the Huaneng Shidao Bay nuclear power plant in Shangdong Province.
The cylindrical vessel, 25 metres high and weighing 610 tonnes, is the biggest, heaviest and most complicated pressure vessel for a nuclear reactor, according to a statement from Huaneng Shandong Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Co (HSNPC), the plant's builder and operator.
In line with the fourth-generation concept, the reactor can shut down safely in the event of an emergency without causing a reactor core meltdown or large leak of radioactive material, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
With a designed capacity of 200 megawatts, the reactor will start generating power by the end of 2017.
It is predicted that 91 per cent of the equipment in the plant will come from Chinese companies, He Yunsheng, general manager of HSNPC said.
"The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor represents the latest technology. It will greatly raise China's capacity in nuclear power plants and boost export," he said.
China has inked memoranda of understanding with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on co-construction of HTGR nuclear power plants, the report said.
Currently, China has 30 nuclear power generating units in operation and another 24 units are under construction, all on land.
