In 2022, China will add 300 million tons of new coal production capacity and build six new nuclear power plants. On April 20, 2022, Premier Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, proposing to determine measures to ensure energy supply and increase supply, and take precautionary measures to promote the construction of energy projects with mature conditions and development needs. The meeting made it clear that nuclear power should be developed in an orderly manner under the premise of strict supervision and absolute safety. Approved. According to reports, this is the first time since April 2021 that a new nuclear power project has been approved.

There are six newly-approved nuclear power units, with two units for each project. The four nuclear power units approved for Sanmen Nuclear Power Phase II and Haiyang Nuclear Power Phase II use localized CAP1000 technology. The unit adopts Hualong No. 1 technology. AP1000 is a passive mega-kilowatt pressurized water reactor developed by Westinghouse Electric Company of the United States, which is the third-generation nuclear power technology. On the basis of AP1000, CAP1000 has been designed with absorption, digestion and localization technology.

Hualong No. 1 is an advanced nuclear power technology of 1 million kilowatts pressurized water reactor jointly developed and designed by China National Nuclear Corporation and China General Nuclear Power Group.

On March 25, 2022, the domestic demonstration project of Hualong No. 1 was fully completed. On April 18, the two units of the first overseas project of Hualong No. 1 were fully put into operation. Sanmen Nuclear Power, Haiyang Nuclear Power and Lufeng Nuclear Power are respectively affiliated to China's three major nuclear power companies: China National Nuclear Corporation, State Power Investment Corporation and China General Nuclear Power Corporation. Both Sanmen Nuclear Power and Haiyang Nuclear Power Projects plan to build six nuclear power units respectively, which will be constructed in three phases. The first phase of the project is to build two AP1000 million kilowatt-class pressurized water reactor nuclear power projects as a support project for nuclear power autonomy. The Lufeng Nuclear Power Project plans to build six nuclear power units. Tian Li, vice-chairman of the Nuclear Energy Branch of China Electric Power Development Association, introduced that the first phase of Lufeng Nuclear Power Project was originally planned to use AP1000 technology, but the newly approved Units 5 and 6 switched to Hualong No. 1 technology.

The standard plan for nuclear power units is 56 months from approval to completion. The investment of one nuclear power unit is about 20 billion yuan, and the total of six units is about 120 billion yuan.

Tian Li said that nuclear power can not only support the national energy supply, but also the preferred green and clean energy. Whether only considering the operation period, or considering the entire industrial chain from uranium mining to post-processing, nuclear power is the electricity with the lowest carbon emission per kilowatt-hour. Variety. Since 2021, China's nuclear power construction and development has accelerated. The Blue Book of China Nuclear Energy Development Report (2021) shows that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period and the mid-to-long term, the positioning of nuclear energy in China's clean energy and low-carbon system will be more clear, and nuclear power construction is expected to continue at a pace of 6-8 units per year. Steady progress.

The active, safe and orderly development of nuclear power has become the main tone of nuclear power development in 2022.

At the National Energy Work Conference in 2022, the National Energy Administration proposed that under the premise of ensuring safety, the approved construction of nuclear power projects with reliable conditions should be promoted in an orderly manner. The gas-cooled reactor demonstration project has four units, with an additional installed capacity of 3.67 million kilowatts.

In March 2022, the "14th Five-Year Plan" Modern Energy System announced by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration proposed to rationally distribute new coastal nuclear power projects, carry out demonstrations of comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy, and actively promote high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, fast reactors, and modules. Demonstration projects of advanced reactor types such as small-scale reactors and offshore floating reactors.

In 2021, China will have a total of 53 nuclear power units in operation, with an installed capacity of 54.63695 million kilowatts, ranking third in the world in terms of the number of nuclear power units in operation, second only to the United States and France.

The above-mentioned executive meeting of the State Council also proposed to give full play to the role of coal as the main energy source, and to increase coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year through nuclear capacity increase, expansion, and new production.

According to the "Notice on Establishing Special Work Classes to Promote the Increase in Coal Production and Supply" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission on March 18, half of the 300 million tons of production capacity came from newly-commissioned coal mines, and the other half of the increase was through production capacity verification and production stoppages. Reproduction, etc. The meeting called for promoting the clean and efficient utilization of coal and strengthening the construction of reserve facilities. Use market-oriented and legalized methods to guide coal prices to run within a reasonable range. In addition, the transformation of energy saving and emission reduction, flexibility transformation, and heating transformation of coal-fired power units was promoted to improve energy efficiency, and the annual transformation scale exceeded 220 million kilowatts. For the transformation, the time for normal overhaul of the unit should be selected to prevent affecting the stable power supply. Implement financial policies to support the transformation of coal-fired power units. Editor/He Yuting