Nuclear security

DOME INSTALLED FOR CHINA NUCLEAR PLANT

A 300-ton containment dome has been installed at China’s first, domestically designed nuclear power plant in Fujian province, marking a key development for an effort to export the nation’s nuclear technology worldwide.

The successful lift project at the Fuqing nuclear complex construction site was announced via a news report on state-run CCTV television Nov. 26.

The plant, slated to open in 2020, is one of two being built at Fuqing with the China-designed Hualong One reactor. Two power plants at the Fangchenggang complex in Guangxi province will also use the reactor.

When completed, the report said, the Hualong reactor plants – called Fuqing 5 and Fuqing 6 – will be “significantly larger” than four other plants at the complex sporting reactors jointly designed by China and the French company Areva.

For safety, the report said, the 48-meter-diameter dome installed at Fuqing 5 was built with concrete and a steel alloy that’s six times stronger than regular steel.