China Field Trip by ALEF
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2016-2017 China Field Trip by ALEF Authors: ALEF students 2016-2017 China Field Trip by ALEF 2016-2017 Table of Contents I. Means of transportation used during the field trip ........................................................................ 3 II. Nuclear power plants visits ............................................................................................................. 3 a) Visit of the Huaneng Shandong Shidao Bay NPP ......................................................................... 3 b) AP-1000 nuclear plant (3G) in Haiyang ....................................................................................... 6 III. Boat cruise between two dams and in one river gorge .................................................................... 7 IV. Hydropower plants: ........................................................................................................................ 11 a) Three Gorges dam ..................................................................................................................... 11 b) Gezhouba Dam .......................................................................................................................... 12 V. Solar power plants run by Huaneng Golmud Company ................................................................. 14 VI. Wind farms ..................................................................................................................................... 16 a) Wind farm state power inv. Corporation .................................................................................. 16 b) Chaka lake wind farm ................................................................................................................ 17 VII. The magnificent Qinghai Lake ........................................................................................................ 18 VIII. Chinese Sturgeon ........................................................................................................................... 19 IX. Xian visit ......................................................................................................................................... 21 X. Thanks ............................................................................................................................................ 25 2 China Field Trip by ALEF 2016-2017 I. Means of transportation used during the field trip During the ten days traveling China, in order to access the cities and sites planned, we took 5 planes, 2 boats, 21 times 4 different buses and 1 night train. We all knew it, China is such a big country, we were going to spend a lot of time traveling. The bad point is that every kilometer spent in transportation has a cost for the environment because of the quantity of CO2 released in the atmosphere. For example, the train is the best cleanest method to travel with 20 grams of CO2 per kilometer per person in comparison to 145 grams of CO2 for the flights … With 20 people present on this trip, we all together released 23 tons of CO2 in our planet. It sadly represents one car driving 150,000 kilometers. But on a positive note for the planet, the 16 students of the 10th ALEF promotion will do their best their entire life to act in the energy field and make the planet great again. II. Nuclear power plants visits a) Visit of the Huaneng Shandong Shidao Bay NPP The Huaneng base includes 3 main projects : - HTR-PM, 210 Mwe - 4 AP1000 plants - 2 CAP 1400 3 China Field Trip by ALEF 2016-2017 The HTR-PM is under construction and the 2 other projects are planned to have the authorization for construction at the end of 2017. For the future, it is planned to have more than 8000 MW of installed capacity on the site. The central government invested a lot in the 3 projects. High Temperature Reactor, Pebble bed Modular (HTR-PM) The HTR- PM project is owned by 3 major actors : - CHNG : 47,5% - China Nuclear Engineering Corporation : 32,5% - Tsinghua Holding : 20% The HTR-PM project consists of 2 pebble bed core reactors, each being connected to a steam generator and then a common turbine and generator. The pressure inside the reactor core is 7.5 Pa and inside the steam generator 45.5 Pa. The coolant used is Helium and the moderator is graphite. Figure 1 : High Temperature Reactor, Pebble bed Modular (HTR-PM) 3D view The reaction of fission is initiated because of a source of neutron: Co60. The lifetime of the reactor is 40 years and its electric generation efficiency is around 42%. Fuel Sphere fuel elements are used for the HTR-PM project : TRISO Coated fuel element. It consists in a fuel with several layers : at the center the U238 (UO2 Kernel), the first layer is Carbon Py low density, the second layer is Carbon Py high density, the third layer is SiC and the last one is PyC. The aim of having such design for the fuel is to prevent radioactive materials dissemination. The fuel cycling and handling does not need to shut down the reactor. 4 China Field Trip by ALEF 2016-2017 Figure 2 : Mockup of the fuel elements of the HTR-PM reactor Safety features The main safety features of the HTR-PM project are the following : - To control the power of the reactor, control rods are used, as well as Bore inserted in the graphite moderator. If needed, Bore can also drop by gravity to stop the reaction; - The HTR-PM project is engineered with passive safety systems such as the use of the Doppler effect and the negative temperature efficiency; - The reactor vessel is constantly cooled down with water. Spent fuel Currently, the spent fuel is supposed to be stored in an adjacent building next to the reactor vessel. No research exists at the moment concerning the recycling of the spent fuel: as a matter of fact, it would be a great challenge to be able to separate the graphite from the spent fuel. The training Room The next step of the visit is the training room where several model components of the HTR-PM can be seen: the reactor vessel, the helium pump or the steam generator. The steam generator consists of 650 pipes (19 tubes containing each 35 smaller tubes). Figure 3 : Mockups of the reactor vessel, the helium pump and the steam generator of the HTR-PM 5 China Field Trip by ALEF 2016-2017 Visit of the control room simulator The room is used by operators for examinations in order to validate their authorization to drive the reactor: 1 team of operators is composed of 3 operators and 1 team leader (1 for the electricity turbine and 1 for the management of each reactor). Investment costs The investment cost is estimated to be around 10 billion Yuan since it is a demonstration project. It is planed that Saudi Arabia would build a 600 Mwe HTR-PM in the near future. b) AP-1000 nuclear plant (3G) in Haiyang On March 22, 2017, we visited Haiyang a 3G nuclear power plant in northern Shandong Province (Figure 1). The project is part of China’s energy plan to increase the share of nuclear in the energy mix and thus reduce the use of coal in order to cut GHG emissions. Haiyang will eventually be composed of six AP1000 reactors spread over an area of 160 hectares near the sea (6 reactors are planned currently, but 2 others could possibly be added in the future). The AP1000 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) with two cooling loops, it is planned to produce a net power output of 1250 MWe, and is considerably more compact in land usage than most existing PWRs. It is an American technology, introduced in China in 2009 after China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) had selected a consortium of Westinghouse Electric Company and The Shaw Group to build four nuclear reactors. A key part of the deal was a technology transfer that allowed China to develop its own 3G reactor. Indeed CAP1400 is intended to be an improvement of the AP1000 reactor with a generating capacity of 1400MWe. After a three-year delay, the first phase of the project (reactor 1 & 2) should be completed at the end of this year. Currently, 70 milestones over 84 have been done. According to CNNC’s managers phase 2 (reactor 3 & 4) will be launched once the first two reactors have been connected to the grid. While the last phase (reactor 5 & 6) is still waiting for a political decision expected in 2020. The project also includes 6 electric lines of 220 kV each, which will allow the connection of the plant to the grid. Concerning the cost of the nuclear plant, the information wasn’t easy to get. But a rough estimation of 50 billion RMB for the first phase was mentioned, which means 20 000 RMB/kW. 6 China Field Trip by ALEF 2016-2017 Figure 4: Haiyang nuclear plant with a view on reactor 1&2 III. Boat cruise between two dams and in one river gorge On Wednesday 24th, a boat trip was planned in order to discover the magnificent landscape the Xiling Gorges, 西陵峡 in Chinese, can offer. Starting from Yichang city we embarked heading up to the Yangtze River and more precisely to the Tribe of the Three Gorges. The Yangtze River With a length of about 3,964 miles the Yangtze River is the largest river in China and the third largest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon. Starting from the Qinghai Province in western China, it goes through eleven provinces including Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai. Finally it ends in the East China Sea in Shanghai. As the largest water system in China, the Yangtze River is historically, economically and culturally important to the country. The Three Gorges Dam on the river is the largest dam project and hydropower station in the