China ditches US nuclear technology in favour of home-grown alternative

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China / Society
China ditches US nuclear technology in favour of home-grown alternative

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Topic | Energy

Echo Xie
Published: 6:00am, 14 Sep, 2020

China has switched from American nuclear power technology to a domestically developed alternative as worries over energy security and geopolitical uncertainties increase.
The AP1000 technology, designed by America’s Westinghouse Electric Company, was once the basis of China’s third-generation nuclear power, but now the country has more third-generation reactors based on its own Hualong One technology under construction or approved, than it does AP1000 reactors.

A total of 12 nuclear reactors in China – either under construction or going through the approval process – use Hualong One technology. In contrast, no new AP1000 reactors have been approved for more than a decade. The last US reactors – in Zhejiang and Shandong provinces – went into commercial operation in 2018.

A total of 12 nuclear reactors in China – either under construction or going through the approval process – use Hualong One technology. Photo: Xinhua
Hualong One is based on the China National Nuclear Corporation’s ACP 1000 and the China General Nuclear Power Group’s ACPR 1000 – both of which are based on French technology.

The technology passed China’s national review in 2014 – three years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster – and was adopted by a number of power plants, with CNNC announcing that the fifth and sixth units at Fuqing, in Fujian province, would use the Hualong One pressurised water reactor design, marking its first deployment.

Construction started in 2015, and after receiving an operating licence from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, nuclear fuel loading at the fifth unit at Fuqing started earlier this month. It is expected to go into operation by the end of the year.

Also this month, the pouring of the base concrete began for the second Hualong One unit at the Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in Fujian, CNNC said.

The plant, owned by CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Co, was originally planned to use Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactors, but a decision was made to switch to Hualong One.

Meanwhile, four units approved last year and another four nuclear reactors approved on September 2 – in Hainan and Zhejiang province – will also use Hualong One technology.


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AP1000 was considered the front runner for use in China’s third-generation nuclear fleet because of its passive and simplified safety features, modular construction, and smaller components allowing more ready equipment localisation, according to the World Nuclear Association.

US firm Westinghouse developed the AP1000 technology. Photo: AP
China’s nuclear power development plan published in 2007 said the country should adopt the pressurised water reactor technology as a unified technology and listed it as a national priority.