Rolls-Royce recently inked a services contract with China’s Suzhou Nuclear Power Research Institute to modernize rod-control systems at 14 CPR1000 nuclear power plants operated by China General Nuclear Power Group. The SNPRI is a subsidiary of CGN. According to Rolls, the contract establishes a partnership by which the utility group may reduce operating costs and improve plant efficiency at those plants.
The CPR1000 is a second-generation pressurized water reactor, based on a three-cooling-loop design updated to have a net power output of 1,000 MWe, estimated to have a 60-year design life.
Rolls has been supplying Instrumentation and control systems for nuclear power plants in China since 1994, when the plants at Qinshan and Daya Bay opened. Currently, it supplies safety-critical instrumentation and controls technology to more than 70% of nuclear reactors in operation or under construction in China. It also supplies emergency diesel generators to about 40% of Chinese reactor units.
Rolls noted this is the first contract of this type it has reached in China.
The length and other terms of the new agreement were not detailed.
“CGN is a much-valued customer of Rolls-Royce,” offered Liu Xiaowei, who heads Rolls-Royce Nuclear operations in China.
Rolls-Royce noted it also has a new agreement with Hongyanhe, a 4.2-MW nuclear power plant in the northeastern Liaoning province, and renewed contracts for long-term services with the 1.2-MW Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province, and the 3.2-MW Ningde Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian province.
