First concrete for the Xuwei high-temperature gas-cooled reactor
From the Energy digest for Nov 6, 2026
What happened: China National Nuclear Corporation has poured the first batch of concrete for the nuclear island of unit 3 at the Jiangsu Xuwei Nuclear Heating and Power Plant in Lianyungang — the 660-MWe Chilong One high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, jointly developed by CNNC and Tsinghua University, designed for a 60-year operating life. The plant pairs the HTGR with two 1,208-MWe Hualong One reactors (first concrete for unit 1 came in January), plus a steam heat-exchange station that will use both reactor types to make three grades of industrial steam for a nearby petrochemical park. Once phase one runs, the plant is to supply 32.5 million tonnes of industrial steam a year alongside up to 11.5 billion kilowatt-hours of generation. CNNC calls the project the world's first coupling of a pressurised water reactor with an HTGR, and the first commercial-scale application of the gas-cooled reactor in China's fourth-generation nuclear push.
What's genuinely new: Construction has started on the HTGR unit — the nuclear-island concrete pour marks the project's move from approval (State Council, August 2024) to build. The steam-heat design and the Hualong One pairing are the parts CNNC now describes in its announcement.
Watch: Unit 1 Hualong One construction progress, the steam heat-exchange station, and further HTGR component and procurement milestones at Xuwei.
Links: World Nuclear News · Nov 6, 7:47 AM ET