China's new Yangjiang nuclear plant connected to the grid Tuesday, state media reported.
Unit 1 at the plant in Guangdong Province has entered trial operations and is scheduled to begin full commercial operation in the next few months. Xinhua reported that the six units planned at the site are expected to cost just over $12 billion. Construction began in late 2008.
According to the World Nuclear Association, Yangjiang 1 is a CPR-1000 pressurized water reactor. While based on a Generation II Areva PWR design in use at the Daya Bay nuclear plant, the first unit at Yangjiang sourced about 75 percent of its components from China. The units at Yangjiang are among 30 reactors under construction in that country.