Chinese nuclear company plans marine reactor by 2020

BEIJING. KAZINFORM - China is pressing ahead with its plans to set up an indigenously developed marine nuclearpropulsion reactor by 2020, industry sources said on Thursday.

The demonstration project for a small marine nuclear propulsion reactor, called ACPR50S,will be included in China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for the energy industry after gettingthe necessary approval from the National Development and Reform Commission, the topeconomic planner, said China General Nuclear Power Corp, a leading atomic powercompany.
CGN is currently working on the preliminary design for ACPR50S, which is expected to startconstruction in 2017 and be commissioned by 2020.
NDRC said that CGN needs to speed up efforts in the research and innovation of coretechnologies, design and key components in a way to meet the demand for "mass production"of maritime atomic propulsion, Kazinform has learnt from Chinadaily.
The 200-megawatt ACPR50S reactor, which can be equipped inside a section of the ship, isable to supply stable and reliable electricity and heat to islands and some projects, whichneed to be at sea for long periods without refueling, such as seawater desalination andoffshore oilfield exploration, CGN said.
"The project has broad applications in providing safe and stable energy for maritimeresources exploration and development," CGN said.
The company is also developing another small nuclear reactor ACPR100 with a capacity of450 mW per unit, which can be used in some remote areas and large industrial clusters, as asupplement to the large-scale land-based nuclear power plants.
While land-based nuclear reactors produce up to around 1,000 mW of power, a typical marinepropulsion reactor produces no more than a few hundred mW, experts said.
A source close to the matter told China Daily that two nuclear majors－China NationalNuclear Corp and CGN－are working with China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, a majorshipbuilder, to build nuclear-powered vessels.
"Compared with conventional ships, nuclear-powered ships can travel further with morereliable fuel, enabling them to complete missions like polar expeditions," the source said.
In 2014, CSIC set up a national research center, called 719, to develop maritime nuclearpower platform and core technologies in the field. The shipbuilder has also received NDRCapproval last week to start research on a demonstration project for nuclear-propulsionvessels.