After 30 years of operation,the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Site has supplied nearly 1trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity

This year marks the 30th anniversary of commercial operation of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant. Since the full completion of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in 1994, the Daya Bay nuclear power site has accumulated nearly 1 trillion kilowatt-hours of on-grid power generation, becoming a crucial power source supporting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

On July 18, 1994, the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant was fully completed and commenced operations, with a celebration ceremony held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. To this day, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has been operating safely for exactly 30 years. Located on the beautiful coast of the South China Sea in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, Daya Bay is the first large-scale commercial nuclear power plant in China’s mainland. Since its commercial operation in 1994, it has been expanded to include Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station Phase I (LNPS) and Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station Phase II (LNPS Phase II). Currently, the three nuclear power plants at the Daya Bay nuclear power site have a total of six nuclear power units with a combined installed capacity of 6.12 GW, making it one of the largest pressurized water reactor nuclear power sites in the world.  

On July 18, CGN held a press conference to mark 30 years of safe operation of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant. "Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant is an important Sino-foreign cooperative project undertaken under the major deployment of the Central Committee of the Party and the grand vision of Comrade Deng Xiaoping," said Jiang Xinghua, Chairman of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operation and Management Co., Ltd (DNMC). Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has smoothly fulfilled China's important historical mission of starting nuclear power from a high starting point. After 30 years of development, it has become an important support for fulfilling Chinese dream of “nuclear power major country" and a vivid example of reform and opening up.

Safety First, the Nuclear Power Site with the Most Global “Championships”

From the beginning of its construction, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has prioritized nuclear safety, making it the company's most important commitment to society and the public.

In the authoritative evaluation in the global nuclear power field—the EDF Safety Challenge Competition, Daya Bay nuclear power site has won the first prize in “capacity factor” for 11 consecutive years, accumulating a total of 39 championships, accounting for more than half of the total championships in the competition, making it the nuclear power site with the most championships.

Currently, the six nuclear power units at Daya Bay site have been operating safely for over 130 reactor years (one reactor year is one year of operation for a reactor), with operational safety performance reaching the international advanced level, consistently maintaining a steady position in the global top tier in recent years. In 2023, out of 72 WANO (World Association of Nuclear Operators) indicators for the six units, a total of 63 indicators (or 87.5%,) reached the world advanced level, representing the highest level of WANO indicators for nuclear power site with four or more units worldwide. In 2019, Unit 3 of LNPS became the world's first pressurized water reactor unit with all 12 WANO indicators entering the excellent level, and in 2023, all the indicators achieved the excellent level again. . As of June 30, 2024, Unit 1 of LNPS has continuously operated safely for 6458 days, continuing to refresh and maintain the international safety operation record for similar units.

Zhang Jinzhe, Deputy Chief Engineer of DNMC, stated that the "Chinese Technical Specifications of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station" which was launched last year, has been operating smoothly and orderly, contributing the Daya Bay solution to the establishment of China's independent nuclear safety management. For a long time, American or French standard technical specifications have been used in Chinese and global nuclear power plants. and Daya Bay nuclear power site has adopted French standard operating technical specifications. Under the overall coordination and guidance of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, Daya Bay nuclear power site, as pilot nuclear power plants, focusing on the long-term development of nuclear power and essential nuclear safety, established "Chinese standards" technical specifications at the end of 2022 to,promote a new path of independent development for China's nuclear power operations.

Green Development, 30 Years of Stable Power Supply to Hong Kong Exceeds 310 Billion Kilowatt-Hours

As of June 30, 2024, the six units at Daya Bay nuclear power site have cumulatively achieved an on-grid power generation of 959.7 billion kilowatt-hours, the environmental benefit of which is equivalent to planting nearly 2.16 million hectares of forest, covering an area equivalent to 11 times the size of Shenzhen or 20 times the size of Hong Kong, contributing to the green and low-carbon transformation and ecological civilization construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Among these, the two units of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant have cumulatively achieved an on-grid power generation of 433.494 billion kilowatt-hours, with the power supplied to Hong Kong totaling 314.5 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for a quarter of Hong Kong's total electricity consumption, injecting a continuous supply of clean electricity into the Greater Bay Area.

The first biodiversity protection report released by DNMC in the national nuclear power industry shows that the species of plants and animals in the land and surrounding sea areas of Daya Bay nuclear power site exceed 200, including 15 types of stony corals under national second-level protection. According to the results of natural capital accounting, since the commercial operation of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in 1994, the total value of natural capital during the operational period has exceeded 420 billion yuan, far exceeding the net production and operational costs.  

Additionally, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has always adhered to the "responsibility transparency" brand gene. Since its commercial operation in 1994, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has annually communicated to the public about safety production, environmental protection, and social responsibilities; established the nation’s first “Nuclear and Radiation Safety Information Disclosure” webpage, regularly disclosing the operation status of the nuclear power plant and environmental monitoring data to the public, proactively responding to social concerns, and fully satisfying the public's right to know; the “8·7 Public Open Day” initiated on the 7th of August in commemoration of the first concrete pouring of Daya Bay nuclear power plant has been held for 11 consecutive sessions, becoming a well-known brand event recognized by the national nuclear power industry.

He Liuyi, General Manager of DNMC stated that the Daya Bay nuclear power site has successively received national honors such as the "National Science Popularization Education Base" and the "2023 Scientist Spirit Education Base," having welcomed over 300,000 public visits. Driven by the national "dual decarbonization" goals and energy security, DNMC will accelerate the construction of green and beautiful nuclear power, continuously build a safe, green, and intelligent Chinese path to modern nuclear power site, and move towards becoming a benchmark in the global nuclear power operating industry.

Innovation and development, the world’s first operational M310 reactor type control system completed digital transformation

Since its construction, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has always insisted on independent innovation, significantly impacted the technology system of CGN and China’s nuclear power industry, completed the standardization, serialization, and localization of the full industrial chain construction of large commercial nuclear power plants in China.

By adopting the strategy of Introduction, Digestion, Assimilation and Re-innovation, Daya Bay nuclear power plant has built China’s independent brand of gigawatt-level pressurized water reactor CPR1000 from Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant (with a localization rate of less than 1%) to LNPS Phase II (with a localization rate of 64%).. Since 2012, CGN has put a batch of 20 CPR series nuclear power units in operation. On this basis, CGN launched the third-generation nuclear power technology HPR1000 with China's proprietary intellectual property rights with its batch construction steadily progressing. The localization rate has exceeded 95%, becoming a "national card" as famous as the high-speed rail, achieving a leapfrog development from Daya Bay to the world.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of commercial operation, the 30-year outage of  Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant was also recently successfully completed. As the "Number One Project" in CGN’s nuclear power operation field, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has successfully implemented nearly 200 technical improvements, including 14 major modification projects. Among them, the DCS system (Digital Control System) modification, the central nerve of the nuclear power plant, is the world’s first digital transformation of the operational M310 reactor type (the nuclear power technology adopted by Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant) analog control system. The use of CGN’s DCS platform with proprietary intellectual property rights and fully localized equipment, has helped push Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant to fully achieve the transformation from traditional analog control system to digital control system, offering a demonstration for DCS localization ,modification. 

Talent First, Daya Bay nuclear power site has trained over 5000 key position talents

In nuclear power development, talent is paramount. As the cradle of China's nuclear power industry "starting from a high point," the Daya Bay nuclear power site has attached great importance to talent cultivation since its construction, "identifying the best teachers" and "training to a world-class level."

Li Weigang, Deputy General Manager of DNMC, explained that from sending "golden men" to France and the UK for systematic training to now having established a comprehensive training system of its own, Daya Bay nuclear power site can now conduct all-around training covering main control room operators, refueling operators, maintenance technicians, to engineering construction and management talent, becoming the "cradle" of China's nuclear power talent training.

Currently, the Daya Bay nuclear power site has cumulatively trained about 4000 key technical position talents in operations and maintenance for new bases, and also trained about 1000 mid-to-senior nuclear power management talents and key technical position talents for domestic and international peers.