nuclear power uses the energy contained within the atomic nucleus to generate electrical energy. The energy produced after the fission of 1 kilogram of uranium 235 is roughly equivalent to the heat released by the full combustion of 2,700 tons of standard coal. Nuclear power is a strategic high-tech industry and a battleground for major powers.
On August 17, 1956, the Chinese and Soviet governments signed an agreement on the Soviet Union's assistance to China in building its atomic energy industry. On June 21, 1958, the instructor said at the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission: "I think it is entirely possible to develop some atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, and intercontinental missiles in ten years."
is an important part of the Republic's "two bombs" project In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a large number of scientific researchers and technical workers gave up their relatively superior working and living conditions in the city and went to major nuclear engineering bases. In addition to their external names, these factories and mines also have a three-digit code name. Their specific locations cannot be found on the map, and the mailing address is usually "Box No. XX, City XX." Many people themselves do not know that they are engaged in the nuclear industry, but they just ride in special cars to work in factories and mines every day. The specific work content is: "I will not sue my parents at the top, and I will not sue my wife and children at the bottom."
Since May 1958, the first batch of uranium mines Shanhe Shui Metallurgy Plant (Hunan Chenxian Uranium Mine (711 Mine ), Hengyang Dapu Uranium Mine (712 Mine), Jiangxi Shangrao Uranium Mine (713 Mine ), Hengyang The uranium water smelting plant (Plant 272)) has started construction one after another. In the second half of 1958, the first major projects of China's nuclear industry were Baotou Nuclear Fuel Element Factory (Factory 202), Lanzhou Uranium Enrichment Plant (Factory 504), Jiuquan Atomic Energy Complex (Factory 504), and Northwest Nuclear Weapons Development Base (Factory 221)’s basic projects and ancillary projects have started one after another.
The international situation suddenly changed and Sino-Soviet relations broke down. By August 1960, all 233 Soviet experts working in China's atomic energy system evacuated back to China and were ordered to take away important drawings and data. The supply of equipment and materials also followed. Stopped, China's nuclear industry, which was under construction, suffered huge losses and difficulties.
Of course, China cannot be intimidated. The central government's final decision was to ignore their ideas. If he didn't give it, we would do it ourselves, start from scratch, and prepare to build the atomic bomb in eight years. "In order to remember this special day in June 1959, the code name of China's first atomic bomb project was determined as "596".
On October 16, 1964, China's first atomic bomb explosion test was successful. In June 1967, the first From the explosion of the first atomic bomb to the successful test of the first hydrogen bomb, it took the United States 7 years and 3 months and China 2 years and 8 months to independently develop it. The first nuclear submarine was successfully launched. There are 46,000 parts on the boat and more than 1,300 kinds of materials are required.
Two bombs and one star were built, but the atomic bomb cannot be used. Food. The nuclear industry must be supported and a way out must be found. If it is too late, talents, technology, and equipment will be lost and aged. Therefore, the nuclear industry has moved from military industry to civilian use.
728 Project
February 1970. When Zhou listened to a report from Shanghai leaders in Beijing on factory production cuts due to power shortages, he clearly pointed out: "In the long run, East China is short of coal and oil. To solve the electricity problem in East China, Shanghai needs to build nuclear power." The date when Zhou's instructions were conveyed (February 8, 1970) was used as the code name of the nuclear power project, namely "Project 728". On March 31, 1974, the central government approved the plan for the 300,000-kilowatt pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant, stating: Build my country. The first nuclear power plant was mainly about mastering the technology, cultivating the team, and accumulating experience to lay the foundation for future nuclear power development. However, due to the impact of the "Cultural Revolution", the project was delayed.
On the issue of whether to build or buy a nuclear power plant, the country was concerned. There had been disagreements. France had promised loans and technical cooperation, including a nuclear power plant.Based on this, the Ministry of Water and Power planned to build the Sunan Nuclear Power Plant in Jiangyin, China, and finally decided to build it in Daya Bay, Guangdong. The State Council also approved the introduction of two sets of 900,000-kilowatt nuclear power plants from French Framatome at the end of 1978. The French nuclear technology M310 prototype is the American Westinghouse Model 312 reactor. A total of four M310 reactors have been built in my country, two each in Daya Bay and Lingao Phase I.
The First Ministry of Machinery got involved and believed that it was of little significance to build another 300,000-kilowatt nuclear power plant. In August 1978, it formally proposed to stop the construction of the "728" project. The Second Ministry of Machinery immediately counterattacked. Shanghai 728 Institute (now Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute ) has done a lot of work in scientific research, design, and equipment manufacturing. The country has approved more than 700 million yuan and has spent nearly 200 million yuan. , is there any reason to dismount?
As a result, in November 1981, the country once again approved the "728" project. In November 1982, the project was approved to be located in Qinshan, Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, adopting a construction method of independent design, construction and operation management. On June 1, 1983, the first phase of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant broke ground. The reactor of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant is designed based on the prototype reactor of China's nuclear submarine 196 reactor. At that time, there were only project code names and no product code names. CNP300 was named after China National Nuclear Corporation completed the research and development of the domestic one-million-kilowatt pressurized water reactor CNP1000. CNP is the abbreviation of China Nuclear Power. At 0:15 on December 15, 1991, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station was connected to the grid to generate electricity. On December 15, 1994, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant was put into commercial operation, making China the seventh country in the world capable of designing and constructing nuclear power plants.
Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station is equally brilliant. It was connected to the grid for power generation in 1993 and put into commercial operation in 1994. Guangdong Province, which is short of energy, has always relied on coal transportation from the north to the south. The water system in the province has a small gap and does not have the conditions for power generation, so it has found a way out through nuclear power. But they were short of electricity and money, so they took advantage of their proximity to Hong Kong and Macao to "loan for construction and sell electricity to pay back the money." In the same year that Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant was put into operation, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, the predecessor of China General Nuclear Power Group (hereinafter referred to as "CGN"), was established. The localization rate of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant is only 1%. However, the localization rate of the Ling'ao Phase 1 subsequently constructed has increased to 30%.
The vigorous development of China General Nuclear Power Corporation has put the industry's "big brother" China National Nuclear Corporation feeling even more pressure. After the first and second phases of Qinshan were completed, core also started to be introduced from abroad. In 1998, the third phase of Qinshan started construction, using the Canadian CANDU-6 reactor type. This type is not mainstream internationally, but it has certain appeal to developing countries. Although the haze of Chernobyl4 still lingers, China still decided to introduce the Russian AES-91 reactor type and build the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Lianyungang, Jiangsu.
In 2004, China decided to introduce third-generation nuclear power technology. The American Westinghouse Company and the French Areva Company are eager to try. Westinghouse's AP1000 stack model finally stood out. In order to introduce this American reactor type, the country specially established the National Nuclear Power Technology Company in 2007. The AP1000 reactor type has not been implemented abroad. As the world's first reactor, the future of unit 41 of the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant is unclear. The year after winning the bid, Westinghouse was acquired by Japan's Toshiba . In the year when Westinghouse was acquired, CGN decided to introduce the EPR reactor type to France again. Similar to Sanmen, Taishan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 is also the world’s first EPR reactor.
Hualong One
However, it is not enough to just introduce technology. The problems of inconsistent technical routes and scattered R&D capabilities have always plagued China’s nuclear power industry. In 1999, the State Planning Commission proposed that CNNC and CGN jointly develop technologies with independent intellectual property rights, but failed to do so. Concerns about foreign monopoly and the desire to obtain independent intellectual property rights have driven the three nuclear power companies to carry out independent research and development of third-generation nuclear power technology based on their respective imported technologies. China National Nuclear Corporation has embarked on the route of CNP1000 reactor, CP1000 reactor, and ACP1000 reactor; China Guangdong Nuclear Power has successively developed CPR1000 reactor, CPR1000+ reactor, and finally the third-generation ACPR1000+ reactor. Finally, at the request of National Energy Administration , the two were "fused" to become "Hualong One".
On January 30, 2021, my country's independently developed third-generation nuclear power technology and the world's first "Hualong One" Fujian Fuqing Nuclear Power Unit No. 5 was put into commercial operation. Shortly after the "Hualong One" officially launched special model development, the leakage accident occurred at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Therefore, "Hualong One" has fully learned from the experience and lessons of the Fukushima nuclear accident, and made a lot of optimized designs to withstand more serious earthquakes and tsunamis. "Hualong One" adopts the "177 core" design and strengthens the power supply system. In the event of loss of off-site power supply, it can provide emergency power supply for the entire plant through a defense-in-depth power supply system to ensure safe operation of the system.
More than 70 countries around the world have or are planning to develop nuclear power. In the long-term construction process of nuclear power projects in China, the nuclear power industry has continuously promoted localization and formed a complete nuclear power industry chain that supplies complete sets of nuclear power equipment. Most of the large castings and forgings, nuclear island large main equipment, conventional island equipment, nuclear-grade pump valves, control systems, etc. have been developed locally.
On December 20, 2021, the world’s first pebble-bed modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power plant-Shidaowan High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor Nuclear Power Plant Demonstration Project was connected to the grid for the first time. This was independently developed by the Institute of Nuclear Energy and New Energy Technology of Tsinghua University. The world's first grid-connected fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power project with inherent safety marks that my country has become one of the few countries in the world that has mastered fourth-generation nuclear energy technology.
Late-mover advantage
China’s nuclear power started late and its development is still relatively cautious. Construction of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant only started in 1985, 37 years behind the former Soviet Union. In the past 20 years, China has only built a few nuclear power plants such as Shenzhen Daya Bay, Ling'ao, and Lianyungang Tianwan, which are small-scale attempts. Only after 2010 did we accelerate the pace of nuclear power construction.
The four major carbon-neutral energy sources are hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, and nuclear energy. Hydropower is greatly restricted by terrain factors, while wind energy and solar energy have low economic effects. Only nuclear power has the potential for large-scale development. China's nuclear power currently accounts for a very low proportion of the country's energy, only 1% (currently 4%). The country with the highest proportion of nuclear power generation is France (75%), others such as the United States (19%), Russia (18%), Japan (33%), South Korea (30%), Sweden (38%), etc. The proportion of nuclear power generation is higher than ours, and China's nuclear energy potential is still huge.
A total of three serious accidents have occurred in the operation of nuclear power plants in the world, namely the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the United States in 1979, the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986, and the 2011 Chernobyl nuclear accident in the United States. Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident. These three nuclear power plants all belong to the second-generation nuclear power technology, and China only started to speed up its construction after acquiring the third-generation nuclear power technology. Therefore, the nuclear power plants we build are all relatively advanced and safe third-generation nuclear power plants. The fourth generation nuclear power plant .
From "following" to "leading", China Nuclear Power's journey has not been easy. The key is to have core competitiveness. For example, India spent more than 10 billion US dollars in the 15 years since it developed nuclear submarines in 1991. Because it was really difficult to complete the construction of nuclear power plants, it had to lease nuclear submarines from Russia.
Only by being self-reliant, innovating independently, and mastering key technologies can we not be controlled by others. China's nuclear power can achieve such brilliant results today thanks to the heroism and dedication of the older generation of nuclear workers. The recent launch of China's new aircraft carrier is the result of our gradual upgrading while learning and building. The fact that the nuclear power system does not exist yet does not mean that we will not be able to develop it in the future.
How far China can go today depends on how much effort it put in yesterday; how far China can go tomorrow depends on how much effort it puts in today!
