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22 April 2010
| Construction start on second French reactor in China The first concrete has been poured ahead of schedule at the Taishan nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, marking the official start of construction for the site's second 1700 MWe EPR unit. Electricité de France (EdF) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co. (CGNPC) have created a joint venture - Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co Ltd - to co-own and operate the two Taishan reactors, with EdF holding 30% of it. WNN 16/4/10. World's largest cooling tower for new Chinese plant Germany's GEA Group is to construct the world's largest evaporative cooling tower for unit 1 of CNNC's Taohuajiang nuclear power plant: a natural draft unit some 200 metres high and 160 m in diameter, with 15,000 square metres drenching area. There will eventually be four of them. Taohuajiang is one of four initial inland power plants, each to have four or six Westinghouse AP1000 reactors of 1250 MWe each. At least three of these will use cooling towers to eliminate thermal impact on the adjacent Zi River. WNN 21/4/10. Nuclear Power in China. Construction start on new Leningrad reactor Last week first concrete was poured for the second reactor of Leningrad phase 2 power plant, the fourth of the new 1200 MWe Russian VVER type. However, this unit is not scheduled to be on line until 2016. Each Leningrad unit will also provide 1.05 TJ/hr (9.17 PJ/yr) of district heating. WNN 19/4/10. Nuclear Power in Russia Rusal head urges nuclear power source The head of Rusal, which accounts for about one tenth of global aluminium, told a Melbourne mining audience that carbon pricing poses a major threat to the aluminium smelting industry which should therefore turn to nuclear power to fuel growth. Rusal is involved in three proposals in Russia to build new nuclear capacity for aluminium smelting. A $10 billion proposal for Primorye in Russia's far east involves 4000 MWe of nuclear plant and a 0.6 Mt/yr smelter, and an $8 billion one at Balakovo southeast of Moscow involves adding 2000 MWe to that nuclear plant and a 1.05 Mt/yr smelter. An earlier Rusal proposal was for Kola, north of St Petersburg. Nuclear security summit includes civil scope As well as the more publicised resolutions regarding military materials and vulnerable materials such as high-enriched uranium from research reactors, the nuclear security summit in Washington addressed security in the civil nuclear sector. The 47 countries involved acknowledged the importance of international cooperation in the area, and decided to strengthen existing international treaties rather than create new ones. The European Commission, IAEA and the UN also participated in the two-day discussions, and all concerned committed to maximize security for nuclear materials and go forward with the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The work plan can be summarized as achieving universality of two key conventions: the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, and the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials. States promised to meet their requirements, to ratify them if they had not done so already, to help each other overcome obstacles to ratification, and then to help each other implement them. A further summit is to be held in South Korea in 2012. WNN 14/4/10. Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Other papers updated on the WNA Information Service (see WNA web site): Cooling Power Plants , Cooperation in the Nuclear Power Industry , Heavy Manufacturing of Power Plants , Synroc , Early Soviet Reactors and EU Accession Country papers: Czech Rep , Namibia , Niger , South Africa , South Korea , Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries World Nuclear Association, www.world-nuclear.org - UK ISSN 1326-4907 |
