At the construction site of the Shandong Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project, the first tank of concrete for the nuclear island was smoothly injected into the foundation pit of Unit 2. On September 5th, the FCD pouring of Unit 2 of Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power was officially completed, marking the beginning of the comprehensive construction phase of the first phase of the project. As the first Hualong One nuclear power project in China to be equipped with cooling towers, this coastal nuclear power unit breaks away from the traditional path of seawater cooling and opens up a new practice of domestic nuclear power cooling technology with a 203 meter high giant cooling tower.

In the first half of 2026, China's nuclear power generation increased by 12.7% year-on-year, and the proportion of nuclear power in the national clean power supply continued to increase. The pace of construction of Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power is a vivid reflection of the accelerated layout of domestic nuclear power.

Air cooled Hualong One achieves technological breakthrough

The first and second units of Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Plant were approved by the state in August 2024, and the first unit officially started construction in November 2025. Each unit is equipped with a 203 meter high, 16800 square meter high-level naturally ventilated cooling tower for water collection, which switches the conventional island cooling source from seawater to atmosphere, significantly reducing the impact of nuclear power operation on the water temperature in the nearshore waters. This is a landmark practice of the technological iteration of Hualong One.

The project plans to construct 6 nuclear power units of the same type, with an annual power generation capacity of 50 billion kilowatt hours after completion, which can meet the annual production and living electricity needs of over 5 million people.

The scale of environmental protection and carbon reduction benefits is considerable

After the project is fully put into operation, the equivalent annual reduction in standard coal consumption is about 15.02 million tons, the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is about 46.2 million tons, and the environmental benefits are equivalent to adding more than 110000 hectares of afforestation. As a core incremental project for clean power supply in the Jiaodong Peninsula, it will further optimize the power structure of the Shandong power grid, provide stable zero carbon base load power for high energy consuming industries and computing hubs in the region, and support the green transformation process along the Yellow and Bohai coasts.

From the first concrete slowly solidifying in the foundation pit of the nuclear island to the stable output of zero carbon electricity from the next six units, Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power is using technological innovation to create a new benchmark sample for the green and efficient development of domestic coastal nuclear power.Editor/Cheng Liting