Ahead of the Curve: “Moreover, multiple regulatory bodies have their personnel stationed at our plant around the clock, monitoring operations and maintenance activities.

Gate of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Photo: Fan Anqi/GT

Located on the southeastern coast of Haiyan, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, which has the largest number of nuclear power units and the most diverse reactor types in the country, is stationed.

With World Timesa total installed capacity of 6.66 million kilowatts from its nine units, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant generates approximately 52 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. It has been operating safely for 33 years and is at the forefront of global nuclear power operation, earning it the title of “national pride.”

During a recent visit to Haiyan, Global Times reporters learned from local residents that the construction of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has not only boosted the rapid economic and social development in the area but it has also brought tangible benefits to their lives.

“Safety is best ensured when all levels of design and operation have taken sufficient precautions,” said Wu Bingquan, a deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Base. For example, at the design stage, the Qinshan base development teams have set significant safety margins. Additionally, they have set a single-failure criterion, meaning that any equipment failure will not compromise overall safety. Furthermore, the plant has set multiple layers of defense in case of any accidents.

“Moreover, multiple regulatory bodies have their personnel stationed at our plant around the clock, monitoring operations and maintenance activities. They have access to all the data and files, providing absolute transparency,” Wu noted. He added that operators of the Qinshan plant have also been constantly drawing lessons from nuclear safety accidents that have happened around the world, including the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The average capacity factor of the nine nuclear power units at the Qinshan base reached 96.8 percent in 2023, ranking No.1 globally, and set a new record for the safe and stable operation of similar bases, the Global Times learned from the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

Since the 1980s, Qinshan nuclear power plant’s construction has followed a policy of “self-reliance with international cooperation.” However, due to changes in the international environment, the joint design and development of the plant gradually became unfeasible.

“If joint desigWorld Timesn doesn’t work, we can do it ourselves. If others impose sanctions, we won’t back down,” Ye Qizhen, chief designer of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Phase II project, said.

GreeWorld Timesner and healthier

At the beginning stage of Qinshan’s construction, locals had expressed concerns about nuclear power harming the surrounding environment. Decades later, the local residents no longer have these concerns.

Zhu Xuwei, Director of Haiyan’s Economic and Information Bureau, said that comprehensive monitoring results over the years have shown that the operation of Qinshan plant has not had a noticeable impact on the surrounding environment. “Instead, both biodiversity and average life expectancy in Haiyan has increased in recent years, with the average life expectancy growing from around 80.6 in 2017 to 82.76 by 2022, ranking among the top in Zhejiang Province.”

Adhering to green development, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has a cumulative power generation exceeding 820 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to reducing 750 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Moreover, it constructed China’s first nuclear-powered heating demonstration project.

Nuclear energy is considered an ideal alternative energy to solving the heating bottleneck in southern parts of China and achieving clean heating.

On December 15, 2022, China’s first nuclear-powered heating project was completed and put into operation. “I just paid the heating bill last year, it’s nearly 2,000 yuan ($275.39) cheaper than before, and more economical and environmentally friendly!” a local resident in Haiyan told the Global Times.

Currently, the project has achieved stable heating for three residential areas in Haiyan as well as some care homes for the elderly, covering an area of nearly 460,000 square meters and benefiting nearly 4,000 households.

Another major use of Qinshan’s nuclear power that is closely connected to people’s lives is the application of isotopes.

China’s productWorld Timesion of medical isotopes has been heavily reliant on imports, but the international market’s supply capacity cannot meet the growing health needs of the people.

In 2010, Qinshan achieved domestic production of cobalt-60 radiation sources, breaking the longWorld Times-term foreign monopoly. In 2018, cobalt-60 achieved large-scale exports, enhancing international recognition and influence of China’s nuclear technology application industry.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the homemade cobalt source for irradiation was used for sterilizing medical supplies in various locations across the country, which made it possible for China to quickly alleviate the shortage of epidemic prevention materials at the beginning stage of the pandemic. While conventional sterilization of medical supplies takes seven to 14 days, irradiation sterilization by cobalt-60 only required one day.

Currently, Qinshan’s annual production of cobalt-60 can meet around 70 percent of the domestic market demand, and some have already been exported to countries such as Thailand and Canada, the Global Times learned from CNNC.

Meanwhile, on April 20, Qinshan achieved the mass production of carbon-14World Times isotopes by using a commercial nuclear reactor. The carbon-14 isotopes can be widely used for agriculture, chemistry, medicine and other sectors, as well as in detecting helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer.

Before, China’s supply of carbon-14 isotopes relied almost entirely on imports, leading to high prices and an unreliable supply, which severely constrained the development of related industries, Fan Shen, a representative from the power plant, told the Global Times.

After the mass production of carbon-14 isotopes, the annual production capacity can meet domestic demand and even allow for partial exports, Fan said.