CHINA BEGINA CONSTRUCTION OF WORLD’s 1st COMMERCIAL SMALL MODULAR REACTOR
- China has officially begun the construction of the world’s first commercial modular small reactor ‘Linglong One’ at the Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant in the country’s Hainan Province.
- The project is based on China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC’s Linglong One (ACP100) technology.
- The multi-purpose, 125 MWe SMR is a pressurised water reactor designed for electricity generation, urban heating, urban cooling, industrial steam production, or seawater desalination.
- CNNC began the development of the Linglong One in 2010, and it was the first SMR project to pass an independent safety assessment by International Atomic Energy Agency experts in 2016.
- Its integrated pressurised water reactor (PWR) design was completed in 2014 and it was identified as a ‘key project’ in China’s 12th Five-Year Plan.
- The design, which has 57 fuel assemblies and integral steam generators, was developed from the larger ACP1000 PWR. It incorporates passive safety features and could be installed underground.