Construction of new Chinese nuclear power plant begins

In November 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the formal acceptance of the environmental impact assessment documents covering the site selection stage for the Zhaoyuan plant. Construction of Phase I (units 1 and 2) of the Zhaoyuan plant was approved by China's State Council in August 2024.

The project is being constructed and operated by Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Company, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear (CGN).

The plant, representing a total investment of about CNY120 billion (USD16.9 billion), will eventually house six Hualong One units. Each unit is expected to start generating power 50-60 months after the start of its construction. With a total installed capacity of 7.2 GWe, the plant is expected to generate 50 TWh of electricity annually - enough to meet the yearly needs of about five million people. It will be equivalent to cutting standard coal consumption by roughly 15.27 million tonnes and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 46.2 million tonnes each year, according to CGN.

At a press briefing, Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Company Executive Director Yu Xiangdong said that the project's most distinctive feature is its 203-metre natural draft cooling tower with a 16,800 square metre spray area, Global Times reported. "This is the first time secondary-circuit cooling technology has been applied to a Hualong One unit," he said.

Yu explained that the tower shifts the conventional island cooling source from the ocean to the atmosphere, using atmospheric heat-sink effect to carry away residual heat from the thermal cycle, while seawater serves only as a supplementary source, Global Times said. The design enables water to be reused, significantly reduces pumping height and energy consumption, and minimises drift, he said. "By adopting this technology, the Zhaoyuan project expands the siting possibilities for nuclear facilities and provides new reference experience for China's future nuclear development."

Zhaoyuan Phase I is CGN's first nuclear power project in Shandong and its tenth nuclear power plant site.