China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that installation of all reactor internals at unit 3 of the Karachi nuclear power plant in Pakistan had been completed on 4 April.
Experts said the development was a key milestone in the progress of the project. During the process of assembling and adapting to the pressure vessel, all the assembly and installation dimensions met design requirements, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent nuclear circuit flushing and cold performance test at Karachi 3, they added.
There are two reactors under construction at the Karachi site – Karachi 2 and 3. These are the first of China’s indigenous HPR1000 (Hualong One) reactor design to be built overseas.
At Karachi 2, reactor internals were installed in January 2019 and cold functional testing was completed in December 2019. Karachi 2 is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2021, followed by Karachi 3 in 2022.
Chinese firms donate PPE around the world
Meanwhile, the Chinese companies have been supporting countries around the world to tackle the coronavirus epedemic.
China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation (CNEIC), a unit of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on 8 April that it was supporting other countries in the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic. The company said that, since the effective control of the epidemic in China and the return to work, CNEIC had arranged for its departments to buy medical materials, select transport methods, learn about import and export policies and contact international partners to offer help.
It is planning to donate materials to Iran, South Korea, Japan, Spain, France, the UK, Austria and other countries.
In the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, CNEIC received great support from overseas partners “and it is now time we return the kindness”, said CNEIC chairman Liu Chunsheng.
Chinese nuclear power producer, China National Nuclear Corporation, has recently moved to help the international ITER fusion prodject with novel coronavirus medical kits, according to CNNC officials.
Similarly, Sanmen Nuclear Power Company (also part of CNNC) is supporting its overseas. At the end of January, when the epidemic was serious in China, Mitsubishi Group in Japan donated 4000 disposable face masks to Sanmen Nuclear Power Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the US donated 400 N95 masks to the company in February.
Now that the epidemic is under control in China, and considering the shortage of masks of its overseas partners, Sanmen Nuclear Power Company has donated 10,000 disposable masks to Mitsubishi Group and 1,000 masks to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, officials said.
