Westinghouse Electric Company said Tuesday that testing had validated the integrity of the containment vessel of the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant under construction in China, marking a significant milestone in the delivery of one of the world's first AP1000 nuclear power plants.
The plant under construction is in Shandong Province, China. In a statement, Westinghouse said “testing to validate the containment vessel … has been successfully completed.”
The containment vessel “meets design and construction quality requirements and provides a robust barrier to protect public health and safety,” the company said.
The two-part testing began Nov. 30 and concluded Dec. 9. During the first test, called the Structural Integrity Test (SIT), monitored pressurization of the containment vessel demonstrated that the design and construction meet all applicable industry codes and standards at 110 percent of design pressure. Following the successful completion of the SIT on Dec. 6, the containment vessel was repressurized to perform the second test, called the Integrated Leak Rate Test (ILRT), which demonstrated the containment vessel’s ability to prevent fission products from being released in the event of an emergency. Final data analysis are being conducted and reports on the testing will be issued early next year.
The tests were completed two days ahead of schedule. The return on experience from AP1000 plant construction is already benefiting global deployment of the AP1000 nuclear power plant. Four AP1000 units are under construction in China: two at Haiyang and two at Sanmen in Zhejiang Province. The testing team at Haiyang effectively leveraged lessons learned from the SIT/ILRT milestone completed in early November at the Sanmen plant to pre-emptively troubleshoot potential testing challenges and increase efficiency, leading to shorter test duration.