4,381 days! Ling Ao NPP hits record high in safety performance

CGN's subsidiary, the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Company (DNMC) announced on April 12 that Unit 1 of its Ling Ao Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) had safely operated for 4,373 days with zero unplanned shutdowns, a total of 13 consecutive years as of April 4, topping its global counterparts.

The record keeps being refreshed. As of the date of the press conference, it had been safely operated for 4,381 days, 15 months longer than the unit of the same type in second place.

”Consecutive days of safe operation without unplanned shutdown” is a key indicator that reflects the management of a power plant, according to Pan Yinsheng, general manager of DNMC.

The Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base, located in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong province, has six gigawatt-level nuclear power units in the Daya Bay NPP and the Ling Ao NPP. As the largest light-water pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power base in the world, it has been operating stably and taken a leading position in safety performance since its first unit went into commercial operation in 1994.

According to the World Association of Nuclear Operators, of the 72 performance indicators for the six units at the base, 61 ranked in the world’s top quartile (advanced level) and 53 were in the world’s top decile (excellent level) in 2017, its best results to date.

The base came first in two areas -- Capability Factor and Nuclear Safety/Automatic Scram -- in the annual Safety Challenge Competition  held by French nuclear giant Electricite de France (EDF) in Paris on March 28, 2018.

It has maintained a top place among similar nuclear power operators with 38 first prizes in total in the competition, which is considered the most authoritative in the field.

In 2017, the base generated 45.66 billion kWh of on-grid electricity, a record high. By the end of last year, it had accumulatively generated 663.71 billion kWh of on-grid electricity for Guangdong and Hong Kong with 236.21 billion kWh exported to Hong Kong.

Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base is an important achievement brought by China's reform and opening-up policy. As the first gigawatt-level nuclear power plant of the Chinese mainland, Daya Bay NPP was the largest Sino-foreign project in the early stage of China's reform and opening-up.

It is also a joint venture pioneer in nuclear power and a demonstration base for the industry in China.

"This is a great project. It shall serve as a model of our country's reform and opening-up and deserve our joint efforts," late state leader Deng Xiaoping said on the signing ceremony for the project in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan 19, 1985.

Since Deng announced importation of French technologies for large nuclear power facilities in China in 1978, CGN has explored a unique path of independent development in technology and management, which features innovation on the basis of foreign technologies. The Hualong One (HPR1000) technology has become a calling card for China in the nuclear power industry.

The development of Daya Bay NPP fully showed that the reform and opening-up policy is essential to the initial stage of China’s nuclear power industry. The experience gained from the project also provides reference for other facilities in China.

As a form of power generation featuring cleanness, safety and stability, nuclear power plays an irreplaceable role in China's energy supply-side structural reforms. Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base will continue to contribute to the sustainable development and going global of China's nuclear power and implement the national Beautiful China strategy as well as cut air pollution with its innovations.