On 30 September 2018, 14:27 (Beijing time) the reactor plant of Tianwan NPP unit No 4 that is under construction in China with the technical assistance of ROSATOM Engineering Division, has been brought to minimum controllable level of power. This is the final stage of the first criticality procedures.
The first criticality procedures of power unit No.4 commenced on 25 August 2018 when upon completion of all preparatory works the first fuel assembly (FA) was installed into the reactor. Totally 163 fuel assemblies were loaded into the reactor. All the works were performed in automatic mode in compliance with the safety rules and ahead of schedule.
“Loading of fuel was completed ahead of schedule, and after obtaining all the required permits, power unit No 4 of Tianwan NPP was brought to minimum controllable level of power. A controlled chain reaction started, the monitoring systems recorded the first neutrons. This will be followed by a power start-up and connection of the power unit to the energy grid of China”, – said Alexey Bannik, vice-president for projects in China of JSC ASE EC.
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Tianwan NPP is the largest facility built within the framework the Russian-Chinese economic cooperation. The start-up of the first stage of Tianwan NPP (power units 1, 2) was held in 2007. These first two units generate above 15 billion KW/hour of electric power annually. The commercial operation of power unit No.4 of Tianwan NPP is planned for 2019.
The basis of Tianwan NPP is the Russian design AES-91 with reactor type VVER-1000, which fully meets the requirements of up-to-date regulatory and technical documents of China, Russian Federation and IAEA. Construction of Tianwan nuclear power plant is being carried out by Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation (JNPC) in cooperation with Russian company Atomstroyexport.
ASE (the Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation) was established by uniting the leading companies of the industry: JSC ASE EC, Atomstroyexport JSC, Atomenergoproekt JSC and ATOMPROEKT JSC. ASE is one of the global leaders in nuclear power engineering. It implements high power NPP design and construction projects, RAW and SNF management facilities, thermal power facilities, and renders a full range of services related to EPC, EPC(M) and PMC services for any complex engineering facilities. ASE develops and actively implements the innovative Multi-D project management system in the area of complex engineering facilities construction that allows such parameters as budget, deadlines and quality to be managed more efficiently.
