Construction of indigenous CAP1000 unit began in 2023
The reactor internals set has been lifted into place for Unit 4 of the Haiyang nuclear power station under construction in Shandong province, eastern China.
The China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA) said the operation took about two and a half hours to complete on 24 June.
Reactor internals are structures inside a nuclear reactor’s pressure vessel that support, guide and contain the nuclear fuel assemblies, control rods and coolant flow. They consist of an upper and a lower section.
The CNEA said the equipment weights about 260 tonnes in total.
Haiyang-4 is a 1,161-MW CAP1000 pressurised water reactor, China’s Generation III indigenous version of US-based Westinghouse’s AP1000 design. It is being built by the State Power Investment Corporation.
Construction of Haiyang-4 began in April 2023. A twin unit, Haiyang-3, has been under construction the site since July 2022.
China currently has eight CAP1000 plants under construction including Haiyang-3 and -4. Two units are also officially being built at each of the Sanmen, Lianjiang, and Xudapu sites.
Construction of two CAP1000 units, Lufeng-1 and -2, in the southern province of Guangdong, was approved in August 2024.
Though not yet listed in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s reactor database, earlier reports said construction of Lufeng-1 began in February 2025.
