The No. 1 reactor at Jinqimen nuclear power plant in Ningbo of East China’s Zhejiang province began with the pouring of concrete for its nuclear island, marking a significant step forward for the full-scale construction of the third nuclear power base of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) in the province.
Jinqimen nuclear power plant is located in Xiangshan county of Ningbo city. It is invested and controlled by the China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd (CNNP), an innovative exploration of the cooperation models between centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs), regional governments and the realization of common prosperity, and a concrete action in the high-quality and high-benchmark building of nuclear power projects in the new era.
Jinqimen nuclear power plant is scheduled to build six 1 million-kilowatt nuclear reactors. The No. 1 and 2 nuclear reactors was approved by an executive meeting of the State Council in December 2023 and installed with the Hualong One, China’s third-generation nuclear power technology with full proprietary intellectual property rights. Each unit has a designed capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts and a designed operational life of 60 years.
With an installed capacity of 7.2 million kilowatts, Jinqimen nuclear power plant is expected to generate 55 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually upon its full completion, equivalent to half of Ningbo’s total electricity consumption in 2024. This output is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 45 million metric tons per year.
Jinqimen nuclear power plant has fully leveraged the CNNC’s innovative development strength in terms of experience integration, holistic coordination and managerial progress, placed safety and quality at the top of its agenda, adopted AI and digital twin technologies in the building of digital projects, and forged a strong momentum from nuclear power-related new quality productive forces toward the innovative development of the nuclear energy industry.
Since its opening, Jinqimen nuclear power plant has firmly followed an integrated development philosophy in the building of an undersea tunnel, done its utmost to support the improvement of public livelihoods and the employment of local residents, and regularly organized science popularization activities to help the public gain a comprehensive understanding of nuclear energy and safety.
Source: CNNC