Qinshan nuclear power plant 3-2
Qinshan nuclear power plant 3-2 is a pressurised heavy water reactor unit at Qinshan nuclear power plant in China rated at 728 MW gross. It is operating. Commercial operation began 24 Jul 2003.
GNPT types the unit as a pressurized water reactor, but its model is the CANDU 6, a pressurized heavy water reactor. The World Nuclear Association reactor database lists Qinshan 3-2 as a PHWR, model CANDU 6, 728 MWe gross, in commercial operation from 24 July 2003. The fuel family follows the type: a CANDU 6 takes natural uranium fuel bundles, not PWR assemblies. GNPT already gives the PHWR fuel family.
reactor_type:
pwr → phwr
· World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Reactor Database, Qinshan 3-2
· verified 2026-10-22
| Reactor type | Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CANDU 6 |
| Size | Largeabove 300 MWe |
| Coolant | Heavy water |
| Moderator | Heavy water |
| Gross capacity | 728MW |
| Net capacity (reference) | 677MW |
| Net capacity (design) | 677MW |
| Thermal output | 2,064MWt |
| NSSS vendor | AtkinsRéalis (Candu Energy)all vendors |
| Typical enrichment | Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235 |
| Site | Qinshan nuclear power plant |
|---|---|
| Unit | 3-2 |
| Country | China |
| Owner | China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100% |
| Operator | Third Qinshan Nuclear Power |
| Coordinates | 30.4417, 120.9415 |
- BWX Technologies CANDU fuel bundles, natural uranium
- Cameco Corporation CANDU fuel bundles, natural uranium
- China North Nuclear Fuel Company CANDU fuel bundles
- KEPCO Nuclear Fuel CANDU fuel bundles
- Nuclear Power Corporation of India PHWR fuel bundles, natural uranium
This unit runs on natural uranium, so its fuel chain has no enrichment step at all: mine → mill → conversion → fabrication. That is the shortest fuel chain of any commercial reactor type, and it makes the operator independent of the four organisations that control enrichment worldwide.
Timeline
- 25 Sep 1998Construction start
- 18 Jan 2003First criticality
- 12 Jun 2003Grid connection
- 24 Jul 2003Commercial operation
Other units at Qinshan nuclear power plant
| Unit | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 1-1 | 330 | |
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-1 | 670 | |
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-2 | 708 | |
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-3 | 670 | |
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-4 | 670 | |
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 3-1 | 728 |
Other CANDU 6 units
14 units worldwide share this model designation.
| Unit | Country | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cernavodă nuclear power plant 1 | Romania | 706 | |
| Cernavodă nuclear power plant 2 | Romania | 705 | |
| Embalse nuclear power plant | Argentina | 656 | |
| Point Lepreau nuclear power plant 1 | Canada | 705 | |
| Qinshan nuclear power plant 3-1 | China | 728 | |
| Wolsong nuclear power plant 2 | South Korea | 599 | |
| Wolsong nuclear power plant 3 | South Korea | 624 | |
| Wolsong nuclear power plant 4 | South Korea | 589 | |
| Cernavodă nuclear power plant 3 | Romania | Pre-construction | 720 |
| Cernavodă nuclear power plant 4 | Romania | Pre-construction | 720 |
| Cernavodă nuclear power plant 5 | Romania | Cancelled | 706 |
| Gentilly nuclear power plant 2 | Canada | Retired | 675 |
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06 · this unit last researched by GEM on 2024-05-07
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data