NUCLEAR POWER IN ASIA | SPECIAL REPORT


(Guangdong province); Russian VVER-1000 and VVER-1200 PWRs at Tianwan (Jiangsu province) and Xudabao (Liaoning province); and US AP-1000 PWRs at Haiyang (Shandong province) and Sanmen (Zhejiang province). Indigenous development was based mainly on French


M31 technology with CNNC and CGN producing slightly different versions: CNP1000, CNP600, CNP300, ACP300, ACP600, ACP1000 for CNNC; and CPR1000, M310+, ACPR1000 for CGN. The 1,000 MWe versions have now been integrated as the Hualong One (HPR1000). Three Hualong one units are already in operation in China with nine more under construction and others planned. China also adapted the US (Westinghouse) AP1000 under a technology transfer deal as the CAP1000 and CAP1400. Four CAP1000s are now under construction at sites originally planned for AP1000s. The Hualong One is China’s main export model. As yet,


China has only exported NPPs to Pakistan, but the country also expects to finalise an agreement with Argentina. The UK cancelled plans for construction of a Hualong One at its Bradwell-on-Sea site largely for political reasons and China was also excluded from NPP tenders in the Czech Republic and Poland. China is also pushing ahead with SMRs and advanced


reactors. CNNC’s SMR demonstration project at the Changjiang NPP (Hainan province) features the multi- purpose125 MWe ACP-100 (Linglong One) developed from the larger ACP1000 PWR. It is designed for electricity generation, urban heating and cooling, industrial steam production, or seawater desalination. Construction of the main internal structure for the reactor building has been completed. It was the first SMR project to pass an independent safety assessment by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts in 2016. In 2017, a joint venture was set up by China National Nuclear Power Co (part of CNNC) and four other domestic companies to develop and produce small, floating NPPs. Its remit was R&D, construction, operation & management and sales including possible exports. China is also building two demonstration pool-type sodium-cooled CFR-600 fast reactors in Xiapu county, Fujian province, as part of its plans to establish a closed nuclear fuel cycle. Construction of the first CFR-600 began in 2017 based on the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) in Beijing. The CEFR was built with the assistance of Russia, which is supplying fuel for both the CEFR and CFR-600.


Japan Before the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Japan’s 54 reactors at 17 NPPs generated 30% of its power with plans to increase the share to 40%. All 54 were closed after the accident and new stringent safety standards were introduced by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in 2013. A total of 21 reactors were closed permanently, leaving 33 operable units totalling 31,679 MWe at 13 NPPs. As yet only 10 units (9,486 MWe) are in operation at six NPPs. Others are in the process of being reactivated or undergoing modifications to meet the new regulations with 16 awaiting regulatory approval to restart. Work stopped on two reactors that were under construction in 2011 (Shimane 3 and Ohma 1) and they are still facing delays. Japan’s NPPs all operate light water reactors (LWRs), the first of which were bought from US vendors such as General Electric and Westinghouse. Japanese companies were subcontracted to take part in construction and these


were later licensed to build similar plants. Companies such as Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI) developed the capacity to design and construct LWRs and by the late 1970s, Japan had established a domestic nuclear power industry. Currently it exports equipment worldwide and is also developing new reactor designs. MHI is designing an advanced 1200 MWe LWR (SRZ-1200) in cooperation with four EPCs (Kansai, Kyushu, Hokkaido, and Shikoku.) Reactor restarts have been slower than expected. In 2022,


nuclear only accounted for around 8% of electricity supply. The government’s Green Transformation (GX) strategic plan assumes that nuclear will account for 20–22% by 2030. Japan’s reactors include both PWRs, boiling water reactors (BWRs) and advanced BWRs (ABWRs). To date only PWRs have been restarted as BWRs require a filtered containment venting system, complicating the upgrades needed to meet the new regulations. Parliament recently endorsed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s policy to allow reactor operation beyond the 60-year limit set after Fukushima and to replace ageing facilities with next-generation advanced reactors. Japan had planned to use FNRs as part of a wider policy


to expand the use of mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel, with up to 18 reactors designated to use MOX. After Fukushima this was reduced to 12, only four of which are approved for operation, with three still awaiting approval to restart. Moreover, operation of the Monju FNR and Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s (JAEA’s) Joyo experimental FNR was impeded by a series of technical and political problems. This ultimately led to Monju’s closure but in May 2023, NRA said Joyo had met regulatory standards, and could restart. Japan is working closely with the USA on FNR development. JAEA, MHI, and Mitsubishi FBR Systems (MFBR) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with US-based Terrapower to develop sodium-cooled fast reactor technology. This is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Reactor Design Demonstration Program (ARDP). MHI said Japan will accelerate innovations in various nuclear technologies through international collaboration on next-generation innovative reactors. Terrapower’s Natrium reactor is also being developed jointly with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. In 2021, JAEA also resumed operation of its 30 MW


experimental High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), closed for more than 10 years, after the HTGR was upgraded to meet the new regulatory requirements. JAEA is also co-operating with Poland’s National Centre for Nuclear Research to design a HTGR.


South Korea Like China, South Korea is now largely self-sufficient in reactor design and construction based on adaptations of Western (mainly US) technology, which it is now exporting. Its 25 nuclear units at four sites have a total capacity of 24,489 MWe and account for around 27% of its electricity needs. Three more units under construction at two sites will add 4,020 MWe, with two units planned totalling 2,800 MWe. Most of South Korea’s nuclear units are LWRs apart from four Candu-6 PHWRs at its Wolsong NPP. South Korea’s first nuclear unit, Kori 1 (now closed), a Westinghouse unit built on a turnkey basis, began operation in 1978. Seven more were built in the 1980s based Westinghouse and Framatome technology including two involving Combustion Engineering (CE),which became part of Westinghouse. Korea’s ambitions to develop its own nuclear technology for export led to


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