The China National Nuclear Corporation is a state-owned entity founded in 1955 in Beijing. CNNC's president and vice-president are appointed by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. However, the CNNC is a state-owned corporation, not a government administrative body. It oversees all aspects of China's civilian and military nuclear programs. According to its own mission statement, it "is a main part of the national nuclear technology industry and a leading element of national strategic nuclear forces and nuclear energy development." CNNC is a nationwide industrial conglomerate integrating science, technology, industry, and international trade.
History
The Ministry of Nuclear Industry built China's first atom bomb, hydrogen bomb and nuclear submarine. It functioned as a government bureau for the national nuclear industry and reported directly to the State Council. It oversaw China's nuclear-related corporations, manufacturers, institutions, research institutes, and plants, including those related to nuclear weapons. It was responsible for the design and operation of nuclear power plants; nuclear fuel production and supply, including the processing of natural uranium, uranium conversion and enrichment, fuel assembly fabrication, spent fuel reprocessing, and nuclear waste disposal. In 1988 the Ministry of Nuclear Industry was re-organised and became the CNNC. The corporatization was partly carried out to gain funds from outside of the government via exports. In the mid 1990s, CNNC had 300,000 employees and managed 200 organisations. Kang Rixin, a senior general manager is currently being investigated for $260 million that was earmarked for the construction of three nuclear plants and allegedly used the funds for the stock market sustaining heavy losses. He is also accused of accepting bribes from a foreign company that intended to build nuclear power stations in China. CNNC has 100,000 employees and 110 subsidiaries. It has 4 nuclear power plants with 9 reactors in operation with a generation capacity of 6.5 GWe, with a further 12 reactors under construction. In June 2015, CNNC announced it would aim to raise 13.19 billion Chinese yuan in an initial public offering, that if successful, would be the largest in China in almost four years previously. In September 2015, CNNC signed a memorandum of understanding with Bill Gates-backed TerraPower for the construction of a traveling wave reactor. In September, CNNC announced a project with the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory to create the Joint Research and Innovation Centre. The centre will investigate aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. The UK and China will jointly fund the project over five years at the cost of £50 million. As of 2017, CNNC was developing a 400 MWth heat-only reactor for district heating. In 2018, CNNC took over nuclear power plant builder China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Corp.
Reactor designs
Pressurized water reactors
The CNP-300pressurized water reactor was the first reactor design developed domestically in China. The first unit began operation at Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant in 1991. A larger version of the reactor, the CNP-600, was installed at Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant, with two units operational from 2015 and 2016, respectively. A three loop, 1000-MW version of the CNP reactor, the CNP-1000, was under development since the 1990s, but the effort has since shifted towards the development of the more advanced generation-III ACP-1000. Since 2011 CNNC has been progressively merging its ACP-1000 nuclear power station design with the China General Nuclear Power GroupACPR-1000 design, while allowing some differences, under direction of the Chinese nuclear regulator. Both are three-loop designs originally based on the same French design, but now have different nuclear cores. The first two ACP1000 units will be built at Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant. In early 2014, it was announced that the merged design was moving from preliminary design to detailed design. Power output will be 1150 MWe, with a 60-year design life, and would use a combination of passive and active safety systems with a double containment. Initially the merged design was to be called the ACC-1000, but ultimately it was named Hualong One. In August 2014 the Chinese nuclear regulator review panel classified the design as a Generation III reactor design, with independently owned intellectual property rights. The first units to be constructed will be Fuqing 5 and 6, Fangjiashan 3 and 4, and a build has been proposed in Argentina.
CNNC has developed a pool-type light-water reactor for district heating, called the DHR-400. It operates at low temperature and air pressure. so is easy to operate and decommission. Building cost is 1.5 billion yuan, taking three years to build. It is well suited for the existing centralised heating systems of northern Chinese cities, currently often coal fueled. In February 2019, China's State Power Investment Corporation signed a cooperation agreement with the Baishan municipal government in Jilin province for the Baishan Nuclear Energy Heating Demonstration Project, which would use a DHR-400.
ACP100
In July 2019, CNNC announced it would start building a demonstration ACP100 small modular reactor on the north-west side of the existing Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant by the end of the year. Design of the ACP100 started in 2010. It is a fully integrated reactor module with an internal coolant system, with a 2-year refueling interval, producing 385 MWt and about 125 MWe.
