OREANDA-NEWS. October 17, 2007. A press conference on commissioning of Tianwan nuclear power plant phase one was held in Beijing.

The press conference was attended by U Sunjian, the JNPC Deputy Director General, Petr Lavrenyuk, the Vice President of JSC TVEL, and Alexander Selikhov, a JSC Atomstroyexport representative.

Chinese customer’s representative U Sunjian said “the Russian modern nuclear technologies have good prospects in the Chinese market.”

Evaluating safety of the fuel operation, JSC TVEL’s Vice President Petr Lavrenyuk noted “the structural materials of fuel assemblies guarantee reliable operation of the fuel during the entire fuel campaign.” Mr. Lavrenyuk especially noted that TVEL Corporation last year had won international tenders for fuel supplies to the Czech Temelin and Finnish Loviisa nuclear power plants and by this confirmed “high operational characteristics and reliability of the Russian fuel.”

Alexander Selikhov in his speech noted main technical parameters had been determined of the phase two of the Tianwan plant. Presently, details of a framework agreement to build Tianwan-3,4 reactors are under discussion. He said “Tianwan plant design uses four safety systems of which two are back-up systems. There is a double containment which not only prevents radiation from getting into the environment but also protects reactor from earthquakes, floods and event aircraft crash. In addition, Tianwan NPP is the first case where the core melt trap is used.”

In September Atomstroyexport officially transferred Tianwan-2 reactor to the Chinese customer and by this fulfilled its obligations as to construct and commission Tianwan plant phase one. The first power unit was put on line in June 2007. At present both units are operating stable at 100% power and supply electricity to Jiangsu Province.