14 | Friday, October 9, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY SOE MATTERS

RIGHT TRACK R&D of nuclear reactor signifies big milestone

By ZHONG NAN tion cost for the reactors can be cut by 20 percent after achieving mass Third­generation nuclear reac­ production, the group is optimis­ tor technology has broken foreign tic about the long­term export monopolies in many fields and potential of the CAP1400. will enable China to own inde­ The annual generating capacity pendent intellectual property of a single CAP1400 unit can meet rights and harness export poten­ the electricity needs of over 22 mil­ tial, said senior executives of State lion residents and reduce green­ Power Investment Corp. house gas emissions such as Their comments came after carbon dioxide by more than 9 SPIC, one of China’s three nuclear million metric tons a year, he said. power developers and operators, China had 13 nuclear power announced the completion of units under construction, with a research and development of the total installed capacity of 13.87 country’s third­generation nuclear million kW by the end of 2019, reactor project called CAP1400, or ranking first in the world. Guo He One, early last week. It is estimated that by 2025, the The CAP1400 R&D is the latest country’s installed nuclear power achievement in China’s nuclear capacity in operation will reach 70 power technology development million kW, with 30 million kW and industrial innovation. already under construction, Based on the third­generation according to the Beijing­based Chi­ nuclear technology of AP1000, na Nuclear Energy Association. imported in 2007, the CAP1400 has A number of nuclear power made great technological innova­ plants of SPIC are under construc­ An FAW employee works on an assembly line in Changchun, Jilin province, in September. ZHANG NAN / XINHUA tions over 12 years of hard work by tion or already in operation. Prom­ more than 26,000 Chinese technol­ inent among them are the ogy engineers from 477 Chinese Hongyanhe nuclear power plant companies with various specializa­ in Northeast China’s Liaoning tions, said Zheng Mingguang, chief province, and Haiyang and Rong­ designer of the CAP1400 nuclear cheng nuclear power plants in Central firms walk the reform talk reactors. East China’s Shandong province. In addition to technologies, SPIC also has reserved several equipment is critical to the sus­ project sites in both inland and Three­year plan gets going with focus coming years, as the Chinese premi­ companies started to run a manufac­ tainable growth of nuclear pro­ coastal areas of China. um marque has become more popu­ turing facility to produce batteries for jects, he said. It has built a presence in 41 coun­ on market­oriented, law­based new era lar than expected. electric vehicles in Ningde, Fujian About 90 percent of the tries and regions such as Japan, Thanks to its growing investment province, late last month. The batter­ CAP1400’s equipment is domesti­ Australia, Malta, India, Turkey, By ZHONG NAN in Beijing and ries,” said Chen Derong, chairman of in research and development, espe­ ies manufactured at this facility are cally made. All its key parts and South Africa, Pakistan and Brazil. LIU MINGTAI in Changchun the Shanghai­headquartered State­ cially in areas such as modern designed to match the requirements materials, like the reactor coolant Its businesses cover power owned steel maker. design, digital and electric power­ of FAW Group’s electric vehicles. pumps, squib valves, steam gener­ project investment, technical Some of China’s State­owned enter­ Besides taking a controlling stake related technologies, Hongqi car China will take more steps to ators, reactor pressure vessel cooperation, and engineering, prises or SOEs that are centrally in Shanxi­based stainless steel giant sales totaled 108,000 units from implement the three­year action internals, control rod drive mech­ procurement and construction. administered are stepping out of Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Co in January to August this year, up 108.5 plan on reforming the country’s anisms, large forgings and nucle­ The Beijing­based State­owned their monopoly roles and setting new August, China Baowu implemented percent on a yearly basis, despite a SOEs, said officials at the national ar­grade welding material, are all enterprise has 115 mW of controlla­ goals to ensure resource allocation is a performance­driven strategy to 9.7 percent fall in sales of China’s teleconference on the implementa­ domestically designed and manu­ ble overseas projects in operation determined by market forces, thus encourage managers to make break­ overall passenger car market during tion of the action plan held in Bei­ factured, he said. and 10.05 gW under construction. enhancing their competitiveness. throughs and achieve progress. the same period. jing late last month. In comparison with the second­ By expanding its energy markets This follows the nation’s decision Apart from improving its working “The sales goal of 200,000 units for The SOEs should become market generation version, the new reac­ at home and abroad, SPIC aims to to create more favorable conditions mechanism including project oper­ Hongqi this year will not be an issue,” entities with core competitiveness tor, with a design life of 60 years, become an international innovative for the upcoming three­year action ations, examination and assess­ he said, adding the group is consider­ and push forward the mixed­owner­ extends the non­manual interven­ and integrated energy group and plan for SOEs. ment, training, dedicated platforms ing a more aggressive target for this ship reform in an active yet prudent tion time from 30 minutes to 72 modern SOE, which is driven by The action plan is designed to and performance evaluation, the brand, pushing its sales in 2021 to at manner, according to the informa­ hours, and dramatically improves innovation of nuclear power and implement the measures outlined company has set up models and least double this year’s figure. tion released by the State­owned safety performance against natu­ other advanced energy technologies. by the 19th National Congress of the applied the experience gained in its Xu said Hongqi’s new models Assets Supervision and Administra­ ral disasters like earthquakes and Ma Yu, a senior researcher at the Communist Party of China in late pursuit of higher efficiency and including the H9 sedan have helped tion Commission of the State Council floods by 100 times, said Lu Hong­ Beijing­based Chinese Academy of 2017. quality. boost sales and a more important at the conclusion of the conference. zao, SPIC’s assistant president. International Trade and Economic The Party’s vision for SOEs is that China Baowu is a group formed electric SUV, the E­HS9, is expected Vice­Premier Liu He, who is also a “The CAP1400 nuclear reactors Cooperation, said the focus of they should adapt to the market­ori­ from the merger of Shanghai­based to hit the market in the last quarter member of the Political Bureau of will be powerful electricity suppli­ nuclear project construction ented and law­based rules and Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron this year. the Communist Party of China Cen­ ers,” said Lu. “For instance, each across the globe is expected to norms in the new era as soon as pos­ and Steel Group in Central China’s The brand will launch 17 new tral Committee and head of the reactor can provide 1.5 million shift from developed to develop­ sible. SOEs are expected to assume Hubei province in December 2016. models by 2025 to cater to a younger State Council leading group for SOE kilowatt­hours of electricity to the ing countries, especially to many greater responsibility in an open It is currently the country’s most customer base and thus cultivate a reform, attended and addressed the grid. Therefore, it is able to pro­ economies related to the Belt and and innovative environment. competitive steel maker. Its output larger following. conference. vide nearly 13 billion kilowatt­ Road Initiative. In line with the new thinking, totaled 95.46 million metric tons in As the government has pledged The conference urged the SOEs to hours on a yearly basis.” Advanced nuclear projects are China Baowu Steel Group Corp Ltd, 2019. continuous efforts to level the play­ play a larger role in leading innova­ As this technology is competi­ already under development in or China Baowu, plans to build a Xu Liuping, chairman of China ing field for private companies and tion efforts as well as actions to tive in the global market with a rel­ inland provinces. China’s third­ high­quality iron and steel ecosys­ FAW Group Co Ltd, a Changchun­ rolled out steps to broaden market improve the industrial and supply atively high degree of safety and generation nuclear reactor tech­ tem and evolve into a strong player based automaker, said the company access for them, FAW Group part­ chains. lower costs, SPIC is promoting the nologies will strongly ensure the in the global market. is eager to improve the market­ori­ nered with Contemporary Amperex The SOEs will act as a safeguard in CAP1400 for exports. It is discuss­ healthy growth and integrated “We will focus on high­end tech­ ented operation mechanism and Technology Co Ltd, China’s largest terms of maintaining social develop­ ing potential partnerships with development of the Yangtze River nology, efficiency and market share vigorously promote mixed­owner­ automotive lithium­ion battery ment and improving people’s liveli­ countries such as South Africa and Delta, the Guangdong­Hong as well as ecological digitization and ship reform. maker by production volume. hoods, according to the meeting. Turkey, said Hao Hongsheng, gen­ Kong­Macao Greater Bay Area internationalization. We have built He said the company has set a Contemporary Amperex is a pri­ eral manager of the company’s and the Beijing­Tianjin­Hebei a world­class indicator system con­ higher sales target for Hongqi, or vate sector company based in East Contact the writers at nuclear energy department. region as well as the Hainan Free sisting of 28 items and seven catego­ Red Flag, a sub­brand of FAW, for China’s Fujian province. The two [email protected] He said because the construc­ Trade Port in the future. ‘Great Wall’, China’s largest tunnel borer, to weaken foreign firms’ monopoly

By ZHONG NAN automatic segment assembly and TBMs support railway and high­ fiber optic wear detection, said Su way projects. They are getting larger CCCC Tianhe Mechanical Equip­ Zimeng, executive vice­president of as tunnels become wider to inte­ ment Manufacturing Co rolled out the China Construction Machinery grate utilities such as water supply the Changcheng, or Great Wall, Chi­ Association in Beijing. and drainage pipes, telecommuni­ na’s largest tunnel­boring machine The reconstruction project of Bei­ cation and power cables, said Yang or TBM, last week. jing’s East Sixth Ring Road will use Hui, head of CCCC Tianhe’s research The monster machine measures two domestically made TBMs with and development unit. 16.07 meters in diameter, and is 145 the same diameter. They need to pass The company’s TBM project is meters long and weighs 4,500 met­ through the core area of Beijing’s sub­ supported by a team of more than ric tons. city center in Tongzhou district, 170 engineers, he said. It marks a fresh breakthrough in CCCC Tianhe executives said. Sun Fuquan, a researcher at the the country’s push for high­end In addition to the complex under­ Chinese Academy of Science and machinery production in a world ground space, the route will inter­ Technology for Development in Bei­ that has been dominated by devel­ sect with several roads, rivers and jing, said the world’s TBM demand oped countries. railway tracks. The average overbur­ will surge as many countries are CCCC Tianhe Mechanical Equip­ den is 20 meters, and the deepest seeking to create jobs and stimulate ment is a subsidiary of China Com­ overburden is 45 meters. trade flows via big­ticket transpor­ munications Construction Co, a “It is rare for an infrastructure tation and infrastructure projects, State­owned construction giant. project to adopt domestically manu­ which require tunnels. With a long­term operational factured TBMs,” Su said. Many projects such as urban sub­ life cycle, the giant machine is the Over the past decade, Su said, Chi­ ways and railways that traverse largest in the domestic market, nese manufacturers have made mountains or waterways usually said Zhang Boyang, chairman of remarkable progress in technolo­ require the technical support of the Jiangsu province­based com­ gies, life cycle, equipment materials, TBMs. pany. Employees of CCCC Tianhe Mechanical Equipment Manufacturing Co assemble the parts of a tunnel service and other aspects in this Backed by their products’ dura­ TBMs are used to excavate tun­ boring machine at a workshop in Changshu, Jiangsu province, in September. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY area. bility, global service network and nels, subway tubes and sewer lines. China’s achievements not only price advantage, Chinese engi­ In comparison with traditional tun­ break the foreign companies’ neering equipment makers are set nel boring methods like rock drill­ ces to improve their transportation been dominated by companies from project has a 9.2 km­long tunnel sec­ monopoly in many segments, but to become some of the largest ben­ ing, blasting and hand mining in infrastructure to boost coordinated advanced countries such as Germa­ tion, of which about 7.4 km will be will also cut the project costs for cli­ eficiaries of the tangible growth of soil, the use of such giant TBMs regional development, commercial ny, Japan and South Korea. constructed by TBMs. ents at home as well as abroad. the Belt and Road Initiative, Sun could minimize the impact on the and service activities, the company But the super­large Great Wall The Great Wall TBM can achieve With around 30,000 precision said. surrounding ground and produce a is building eight large­diameter TBM shows the steady rise of Chi­ an ultra­long tunneling distance of components and mechanical engi­ “It is critical for them to enhance smooth tunnel wall, helping certain TBMs, Zhang said. na’s manufacturing capabilities in 4,800 meters without changing the neering, electrical, sensing, infor­ brand recognition and a localization tunnel projects run through unsta­ Orders have been placed until this area, Zhang said. tool in Beijing’s sand and gravel stra­ mation and new material process to further compete with ble geological conditions. 2022. The Great Wall TBM will be used tum, and has reached the world’s technologies, a TBM is considered a well­established global rivals such As many Chinese and global cities While China has exported smaller in the reconstruction project of Bei­ advanced level in technical fields gauge of a country’s level of equip­ as Germany’s Herrenknecht AG and have increasingly deployed resour­ TBMs, the global market has mainly jing’s East Sixth Ring Road. The such as atmospheric tool change, ment manufacturing expertise. Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries.”