• Inner dome installed at Zhangzhou 3 The Hualong One reactor design features a double-layered containment building, the main function of which is to ensure the integrity and leak tightness of the reactor building, and it plays a key role in the containment of radioactive substances. • Following “a series of high-precision manoeuvres including luffing, hook raising, traversing, and adjustments”, the steel inner dome for Zhangzhou unit 3’s inner containment - measuring 45 metres in diameter and almost 14 metres in height, and weighing more than 370 tonnes - was placed on top of the walls of the double containment structure using a 3,200-tonne crawler crane on 4 February. • (Image: CNNC) China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said the installation of Zhangzhou 3’s inner dome “marks its transition from civil construction to equipment installation. • This lays a solid foundation for subsequent installation, commissioning, and grid connection, achieving a ‘good start’ for the second phase of Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant in the new year, and injecting strong momentum into the steady progress of nuclear power construction in China”. • China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued construction licences for Zhangzhou units 1 and 2 on 9 October 2019 to CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, the owner of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project, which was created by CNNC (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%) in 2011. • Construction of Zhangzhou 1 began in October 2019, with that of unit 2 starting in September 2020.
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