Russian nuclear power giant Rosatom said Tuesday that fuel loading had begun ahead of schedule at the Tianwan nuclear power plant's new Unit 3 in the Jiangsu Province of China.
The process of fuel loading began on August 18. The Russian-built VVER-1000 reactor will deploy 163 fuel assemblies, according to the World Nuclear Association. The plan for the reactor is to initiate first criticality and generation testing soon for the reactor that is expected to be connected to the grid later this year and commence commercial operations early in 2018.
Long-term plans for the facility include construction of 1080 MWe ACPR1000 reactors of Chinese design, which will be the fifth and sixth reactors at the plant. The fourth VVER-1000 reactor for the plant, Unit 4, is already under construction.
The first concrete pour for Unit 3 began in December 2012, while the first concrete in place for Unit 4 began the following year in September. AtomStroyExport is the main contractor for units 3 and 4. They follow on the heels of VVER-1000 Units 1 and 2,which began commercial operations in 2007.