The lifting of the work stop order paves the way for the production of long-lead items. This includes the manufacture of the graphite feedstock material which will be machined to PBMR specification and will shape and support the reactor’s pebble bed core within the pressure vessel.
First concrete – the official start of construction of a nuclear power plant – should be poured for Sanmen 1 in March 2009, with operation following in late 2013.
A component module factory specifically for AP1000 units has been established near Haiyang in Shandong province, where two other AP1000s are to be built. Pre-assembled modules could be transported from the Haiyang facility across China or even for export later on in China’s nuclear power program. A similar facility is planned in America to provide AP1000 modules to the USA as well as – potentially – the UK, South Africa and Turkey.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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