Exploring the Taipingling Nuclear Power Plant: "Hualong One" Leads the Iterative Upgrade of China's Nuclear Power Technology

Recently, the "Nuclear Power Media Research Tour" organized by the National Energy Administration visited the Taipingling Nuclear Power Plant of China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) in Huidong County, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province. The plant is planned to house six "Hualong One" third-generation nuclear power technology units, with construction proceeding in phases: Units 1 and 2 of Phase I have been completed and put into operation; Units 3 and 4 of Phase II have entered the peak period of civil construction; and Units 5 and 6 of Phase III officially received approval from the State Council in July this year and are in full preparation for construction.

In terms of responding to extreme weather, Units 1 and 2 of the Taipingling Nuclear Power Plant withstood a direct hit from a severe typhoon this summer and maintained safe and stable operation, verifying the outstanding disaster resistance and operational performance of China's self-developed third-generation nuclear power technology.

It is understood that "Hualong One" adopts the internationally leading combined active and passive nuclear safety design concept. Among them, the active systems achieve efficient defense under the guarantee of safety power supply, while the passive systems can cleverly utilize natural forces such as gravity to maintain core cooling under extreme accident conditions with complete loss of external power, ensuring absolute reactor safety.

It is worth noting that Units 5 and 6 of the Taipingling Nuclear Power Plant will be the first to adopt the "Hualong One" 2.0 upgraded version. CGN officially launched this upgraded technology at its Sustainability Conference in September this year. Compared with the initial version, "Hualong One" 2.0 has achieved all-round leaps in safety, economics and intelligence, enabling extreme safety assurance capabilities of "no operator intervention required for 72 hours after an accident" and "7-day accident autonomy."

As an important clean energy base in the Greater Bay Area, once all six units of the Taipingling Nuclear Power Plant are completed and put into operation, the annual power generation will reach approximately 55 billion kWh, equivalent to reducing standard coal consumption by about 16 million tons per year, and the emission reduction benefits will be equivalent to adding nearly 120,000 hectares of afforestation in Huizhou City. At present, the total number of "Hualong One" units under construction and in operation has jumped to first in the world, occupying more than 60% of the market share in China's new nuclear power market.