San'ao 2 loads 177 fuel assemblies, second of six Hualong One units at the Zhejiang site
Victoria Shinder1 min readInitial fuel loading has been completed at unit 2 of the San'ao nuclear power plant in China's Zhejiang province, World Nuclear News reported on 4 November. China General Nuclear said the milestone was reached on 2 November. San'ao 2 is the second of six HPR1000, or Hualong One, reactors planned at the site.
CGN said the operation used semi-automatic equipment: after staff programmed the loading sequence, it was imported into the refuelling machine's control system, and specialised operators then transferred 177 fuel assemblies from the racks of the spent fuel pool to the reactor core. The company also used a floating underwater light it developed itself to illuminate the core during the work. It described the step as the unit's entry into a new stage of nuclear-powered operation and commissioning.
The project's dates are set out in the report. China's State Council approved units 1 and 2 as the first phase on 2 September 2020, the National Nuclear Safety Administration issued the construction permit on 30 December that year, and first concrete for unit 2 was poured on 30 December 2021. Cold functional tests at unit 2 were completed in October 2025 and hot functional tests in April 2026. Unit 1 reached first criticality in February, was connected to the grid in March and entered commercial operation on 29 April.
San'ao 2 is scheduled to begin supplying electricity in 2027. The plant is the first nuclear project in the Yangtze River Delta region to use the Hualong One design.
What it means
With unit 1 commercial since April and unit 2 now fuelled, the first phase of San'ao is down to the commissioning of one reactor, due to supply power in 2027.