A view of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province on Tuesday. Photo: CCTV

The first nuclear fuel loading of Unit 7 at the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province, was successfully completed on Tuesday, which indicates the unit has entered the nuclear commissioning phase, laying a solid foundation for subsequent reactor criticality, grid connection and power generation, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday. 

The unit completed loading correctness verification and the start of the reassembly of the protective tube assemblies on Tuesday, according to the media report.

Fuel loading is a critical milestone in the full construction cycle of a nuclear power unit and marks an important starting point for the unit's nuclear operation. Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 7 is China's first third-generation VVER-1200 nuclear power unit to enter construction, and this fuel loading is also the first core loading for the first unit of the VVER-1200 type in China.

Compared to its precedent VVER-1000 reactor, the latest VVER-1200 reactor features advantages in many aspects, including an enhancement on the performance and safety, longer lifespan, as well as less manpower cost, according to media reports. 

The fuel loading process began on the 12th and was fully completed on Tuesday, involving the loading of a total of 163 nuclear fuel assemblies. It consisted of three main stages: transfer of the fuel assemblies, loading of the fuel into the reactor core, and verification of the correctness of the loading. The most critical stage—loading the fuel into the reactor core—utilized a fully automatic remote fuel loading control system. Throughout the entire process, all operations involving the fuel assemblies were automatically carried out by the system according to coordinates preset by the operators.

The CCTV report noted that in subsequent steps, Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 7 will proceed with reactor reassembly, reactor criticality, steam turbine roll, and grid connection.

The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant consists of eight generating units. The first batch of six units have completed and put into operation now, with cumulative generating capacity exceeding 500 billion kilowatt-hour (kWh). Units 7 and 8, which are now under construction, each has an installed capacity of 1.265 million kW and a design life of 60 years. 

The Units 7 and 8 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant are scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2026 and 2027, respectively. Once all eight units at the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant are fully operational, the total installed capacity will exceed 9 million kW, with annual electricity supply surpassing 70 billion kWh, able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 57.4 million tons per year.

China's total installed nuclear power capacity had exceeded 120 million kilowatts at the end of 2025, ranking first globally, according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency.

Global Times