Indigenous technology to power new 3rd generation nuclear plant

The first in a series of smaller but safer Chinese nuclear power plants is to become operational by 2013.

The plant at Putian county, Fujian province will be the first third-generation nuclear plant built with Chinese technology. It is being built by the Nuclear Power Institute of China, the same organization that completed China’s first nuclear plant at Qinshan.

Putian will adopt a China-developed nuclear technology model called ACP100 considered safer and having higher energy efficiency compared to current second- and third-generation plants. The plant will be smaller in size than conventional plants; will have a shorter construction time of some 30 to 40 months and will come with higher safety levels.

The next or fourth-generation nuclear plants planned by China will be so safe they can be built next to cities. These new plants will be able to generate a 100,000 kilowatts of electric power at very low cost.

After the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, many of China’s third-generation reactors were upgraded to improve safety. These measures included strengthening the protection wall and adding back-up electricity power generators.