Dossiers Energy of the Future / L’énergie du futur Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente Nuclear Plant Tests: HTR in China and Traditional in U.S. 22 October 2020 EIRNS—China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has announced completion of cold functional tests at the first reactor of the demonstration high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plant (HTR-PM) in Shandong province. Cold testing of the second unit at the plant has now begun. A further 18 such HTR-PM units are proposed for the same site in Shidaowan. The “cold” testing means that the coolant and other high-pressure systems are verified to be in working order, although no energy is being created by a nuclear process. The HTR reactor was tested using compressed air and a small amount of helium as the test medium. The demonstration plant’s twin HTR-PM reactors will drive a single 210-MWe turbine. Helium gas will be used as the primary circuit coolant. The steam generator transfers heat from helium coolant to a water/steam loop. The design temperature of the HTR-PM reaches 750° C. Beyond HTR-PM, Chinà proposes a scaled-up version called HTR-PM600, which will have one large (650-MWe) turbine driven by some six HTR-PM reactor units. Feasibility studies on HTR-PM600 deployment are under way for four locations in China. In the United States, Georgia Power announced that the cold testing of Vogtle-3 has been completed. The 1,100-MWe plant, being built in conjunction with Vogtle-4, is 94% complete, and the complex of the two is 88% complete. The reactors are expected to go online in November 2021 for unit 3 and November 2022 for unit 4. [rap/rma] [jar] See also: IAEA Welcomes New Nuclear Power States EIRNS—Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Turkey, and the U.A.E. have joined the ranks of those nations producing electric power with nuclear energy. Kenya, Ghana, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan are “seriously considering” joining their ranks, says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is being approached by more and more countries. “I think that we will have a solid group of around 10-12 new countries added to the list of those which are at the moment producing nuclear energy,” the IAEA’s director Rafael Mario Grossi says, pointing out that, so far, only about 40 of 193 UN member states have nuclear power programs. [rap]