Rosatom starts to load nuclear fuel at 4th power unit of China’s Tianwan NPP

Russia’s state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom has started to load nuclear fuel at the fourth power unit of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in China, Rosatom said in a statement on Saturday.

"On August 25, 2018, at 7:20 p.m. (2:20 p.m. Moscow time), the first fuel assembly was loaded into the active zone of the reactor at the fourth power unit of the Tianwan NPP in China," the statement says.

Overall, 163 fuel assemblies are planned to be loaded into the rector of the NPP’s fourth power unit.

Nuclear fuel loading signifies the start of the stage of the power unit’s launch into operation. As the next stage, the power unit will be launched with its connection to China’s power grid.

The second stage of the Tianwan NPP (the third and the fourth power units) is being built with the assistance of ASE, Rosatom’s engineering division. Currently, three VVER-1000 power units built under the Russian project are operational at the Tianwan NPP.

The Tianwan NPP is the largest facility of the Russian-Chinese economic cooperation. The first stage of the Tianwan NPP (the first and the second power units) was launched in 2007. The launch of the third power unit of the Tianwan NPP took place in December 2017.