Recently, China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (CNNP)announced that Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power Co., Ltd (ZZEC), Shanghai GuoSheng Group (a large investment holding and wholly state-owned capital operating company), Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co., Ltd, and Shanghai Electric, plan to jointly fund the establishment of CNNC-Marine Nuclear Power Development Co., Ltd. (provisional name). Compared with the large commercial reactors, the offshore small nuclear power platform is getting more attention.
According to the announcement, CNNC- Marine Nuclear Power Development Co., Ltd. registered with capital of 1 billion yuan (151 Million USD), and the business scope includes:
- marine nuclear equipment development,
- construction,
- operation and management,
- production,
- sale of electricity,
- heat,
- water desalination and related products.
The establishment will promote the application of nuclear power plant in engineering fields such as surface ships and marine comprehensive utilisation platforms.
In recent years, several nuclear power companies in China have shown strong interest in the offshore nuclear projects, and strive for national policy support. In January 2016, CSIC marine nuclear Power Platform Demonstration Project was awarded the National Energy major science and technology Innovation Project. In the same month, the National Energy Administration issued the “Thirteenth-Five-Year” plan for Energy technology innovation, the ACPR50s Marine nuclear power platform and the ACP100s were included in the plan. Among them, the ACPR50s belongs to compact type, multi-purpose small pressurized water reactor, and single reactor thermal power is 200MW, while the ACP100s is integrated pressurized water reactor, single reactor thermal Power 310MW.
According to the calculation, the next 10 years of small-scale offshore capacity demand could be up to millions of kilowatts.
It is reported that NPIC is doing the Structure platform research and development, together with the design and manufacturing units. The institute completed the preliminary design and key technical work of floating nuclear plants in China’s sea area, fulfilling the basic conditions of ACP100s demonstration reactor which is expected to be operated in 2019.
According to national planning, in future it will be batch construction of nearly 20 marine nuclear power Platform, the realization of batch construction, the estimated investment of each marine nuclear power platform of about 2 billion yuan (300 Million USD).