China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that the inner dome had been installed on the containment building for the the Hualong One reactor being built at Zhangzhou 1 in Fujian province.
CNNC said the lifting of the dome is an important milestone. The steel dome measures 45 metres in diameter and almost 14 metres in height, and weighs about 260 tonnes. Its main function is to ensure the integrity and sealing of the reactor building, and it plays a key role in the containment of radioactivity.
CNNC said a 3200-t crane slowly lifted the dome from the ground. After a series of smooth movements, such as luffing, lifting hooks, crane walking, and boom counter-clockwise rotation, it was positioned directly above the reactor building and was slowly lowered into place on the steel lining of the containment. Installation of the inner dome means that the project has now "shifted from the construction stage to the installation stage,” CNNC noted. The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was installed at Zhangzhou 1 earlier in October.
CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, the owner of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project which was established in 2011 by CNNC (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%). Construction of Zhangzhou 1 began in October 2019 and of Zhangzhou 2 in September 2020. The units are scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2024 and 2025,.
As of the third quarter of 2021, CNNC's cumulative commercial power generation in 2021 totalled 136.214TWh, a year-on-year increase of 22.92%. Cumulative on-grid power generation was 127.513TWh, a year-on-year increase of 23.53%.
Photo: The dome has been installed at Zhangzhou 1 (Photo credit: CNNC)
