CGN's Zhejiang San'ao Nuclear Power Project Unit 1 achieves initial grid-connected power generation

At 17:28 on March 12, the first Hualong One (HPR1000) nuclear power unit in the Yangtze River Delta region, Unit 1 of CGN's Zhejiang San'ao Nuclear Power Project, successfully connected to the grid for the first time and generated its first kilowatt-hour of electricity. This milestone signifies that the unit is now capable of supplying power to the grid, marking a critical step toward its formal commissioning.

Construction of Unit 1 of the San'ao Nuclear Power Project began on December 31, 2020. On-site confirmation after grid connection showed that the unit is operating in good condition, with all technical indicators meeting design expectations. Next, the unit will enter the trial operation phase with load, where power escalation and various performance tests will be conducted as planned. It is expected to be officially commissioned for power generation in the first half of 2026.

Currently, the Yangtze River Delta region is witnessing the emergence of a number of leading artificial intelligence companies such as DeepSeek, with the intelligent economy showing a vigorous development trend. The explosive growth in computing power demand has led to a continuous increase in energy consumption. This year, for the first time, the national Two Sessions included “computing and power synergy” in the Government Work Report, explicitly stating the implementation of new infrastructure projects such as ultra-large-scale intelligent computing clusters and computing and power synergy.

"As a vital part of the energy security for the Yangtze River Delta region, the San'ao Nuclear Power Project plans to build six Hualong One (HPR1000) nuclear power units, with three already under construction," said Du Yanhui, Party Secretary and Chairman of the Board of CGN Cangnan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. He explained that upon completion of the entire project, the annual power generation capacity is expected to exceed 54 billion kWh, which is nearly the current total electricity consumption of Wenzhou City. This will meet the annual production and living electricity needs of over 5 million people, and is equivalent to an annual reduction of over 16.35 million tons in standard coal consumption and about 50 million tons in carbon dioxide emissions, which is comparable to adding over 120,000 hectares of afforested area. The steady progress of the San'ao Nuclear Power Project will continue to provide clean energy support for the green and low-carbon transformation and intelligent economic development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

During the project construction, digital and intelligent technologies have been widely applied. In terms of digital and intelligent construction, the project has comprehensively created a nuclear power “smart construction site,” achieving “visualized, automated, and intelligent” control of the work site, reducing manual workload by approximately 700,000 man-hours annually. It has also developed and put into use the nation's first intelligent management system for radiographic films in nuclear power plants, which integrates digital management of radiographic films, AI-powered intelligent assessment, and intelligent duplicate checking, achieving full-process digitalization. During the nuclear island installation phase, this system was applied to over 40,000 on-site piping radiographic films, with the intelligent assessment detection rate for non-conforming defects and the accuracy of intelligent duplicate checking both exceeding 95%. In terms of advanced construction technology, domestically produced welding machines and supporting processes were comprehensively used for the first time in the main pipeline welding of a domestic nuclear power plant, achieving a breakthrough in the independent control of core equipment and processes. For the first time in a CGN Hualong One (HPR1000) project, the innovative “Lego-style” detachable prefabricated retaining wall modular assembly technology was applied. The 62-meter-long retaining wall components were prefabricated and then rapidly assembled on-site, effectively saving construction costs and providing support for improving the quality and efficiency of nuclear power engineering.