Published on July 13, 2019.
As a continuation of Toyohito Matsuoka’s essay in the monthly magazine WiLL, this article examines China’s rapid construction of third-generation reactors such as EPR, AP1000, and Hualong One.
China’s nuclear strategy, pursued with a system and speed far surpassing those of Europe, the United States, and Japan, is becoming a serious threat to countries aiming to export nuclear power plants.

July 13, 2019.
CGN also developed a new reactor with a core design different from that of CNNC, and began construction of Units 3 and 4 at Fangchenggang in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in December 2015 and December 2016.
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The ambition to dominate the world through nuclear power.
In Japan, the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, or ABWR, first adopted at Unit 6 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, which began operation in 1996, is the newest reactor type among existing nuclear power plants, and there is also a construction plan for an Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor, or APWR.
Meanwhile, at the development stage, there is the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute’s high-temperature gas reactor, the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor, or HTTR, with an output of 30,000 kW, and in addition, research into fast reactors and nuclear fusion reactors is also being advanced.
In China, in addition to the construction of third-generation reactors such as EPR, AP1000, and Hualong One, which is based on a French design with China’s own improvements added and is intended to be a centerpiece for overseas exports, various efforts are being pursued ambitiously, including the construction of next-generation reactor high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, or HTGR, demonstration small modular reactors, or SMRs, and, in technological development, fast neutron reactors, or FNRs, thorium molten salt reactors, or TMSRs, traveling wave reactors, or TWRs, and low-temperature heat supply reactors, or LTHRs.
In particular, China’s efforts toward next-generation reactor development are being carried out with a system and speed that far surpass those of Europe, the United States, and Japan, and they are attracting worldwide attention.
The EPR is the latest PWR, with an output of 1.66 million kW, developed by France’s former Areva, now Framatome.
Following Finland and France, in China, in 2007, CGN invested 70 percent and Électricité de France, or EDF, invested 30 percent to establish Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co., Ltd.; construction of Unit 1 began in December 2009, and construction of Unit 2 began in April 2010.
The Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant under construction in France was delayed due to problems, but China overtook France and Finland, which had been ahead, and began power transmission on June 29 of this year.
Work is now proceeding toward commercial operation.
AP1000 is the latest PWR, with an output of 1.25 million kW, designed by the U.S. company WH, and in China, that company and SNPTC agreed to build two units each at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang Province and the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong Province; construction of Sanmen Unit 1 began in April 2009, and construction of Haiyang Unit 1 began in September 2009.
Sanmen Unit 1 began power transmission on June 30 of this year and is now being prepared for commercial operation.
Furthermore, SNPTC developed CAP1400, an improved version of AP1000 with output raised to 1.4 million kW, and is planning construction of the first unit at Rongcheng Shidaowan in Shandong Province.
Hualong One, or HL1000, is a third-generation reactor for which China holds intellectual property rights, and CNNC began construction of Units 5 and 6 at the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian Province in succession in May and December 2015.
CGN also developed a new reactor with a core design different from that of CNNC, and began construction of Units 3 and 4 at Fangchenggang in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in December 2015 and December 2016.
Although each has differences in safety systems and supply chains, CNNC and CGN plan to integrate their designs and actively expand into China’s inland regions and overseas markets as a new Hualong One, and many see this as a threat to countries aiming to export nuclear power plants.