Once completed it will be capable of producing 1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, enough to meet the needs of 526,000 households.
Nuclear power has become an increasingly important element of the country’s goals of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 and the use of coastal nuclear plants, including reactors like Linglong One, is promoted in the current five-year plan for national development.
Small modular reactors are advanced nuclear reactors with a power capacity of up to 300MW per unit, about one-third of traditional nuclear power reactors.
The technology can be used to meet multiple energy demands, such as electricity generation, urban heating and cooling, seawater desalination and steam production for industry, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Currently, more than 70 commercial small modular reactors are being developed around the world, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including in Argentina, Russia and South Korea.
The technology could also be used offshore, potentially in disputed waters such as the South China Sea. Russia has already built the world’s first floating nuclear power plant – the Akademik Lomonosov, which began commercial operations in May 2020.
Lu Tiezhong, party chief and chairman of the China National Nuclear Power Company, has previously described the reactors as being suitable for small islands with a population of tens of thousands of residents.
Two years ago Lu told the state-run Science and Technology Daily that their desalination capabilities were also significant, because they could be used to provide fresh water to such islands.
“Many countries along the [routes of the Belt and Road Initiative, an international infrastructure scheme] and bordering the South China Sea, such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, have many small islands. There are also remote areas in countries like Saudi Arabia that may have demand for this technology,” Lu said.
The core module of Linglong One, made by China First Heavy Industries, is the most critical part of the reactor, according to Xinhua, which added that the technology and construction were exclusively Chinese.
Wu Qiong, a technician with the manufacturing company, told Xinhua: “Through independent innovation, we have broken through a number of key technologies and achieved engineering applications.”
In 2016, Linglong One became the world’s first small modular reactor to pass a safety review by the IAEA, which said the design was “capable of dealing with extreme environmental conditions and multiple failures”.
