Русский
Rosatom has begun the power start-up at Unit 7 of the Tianwan NPP in China, with the facility already delivering the first kilowatts to the country’s energy system. All systems operated normally in the standard design mode.
The power start-up stage includes the gradual raising of the reactor’s power in several steps from 1% at the physical start-up to 50%, ensuring readiness for pilot-industrial operation. This is followed by a lengthy stage of gradual power build-up to the nominal level, after which its commercial operation and two-year warranty operation begins.
Rosatom and China’s CNNC signed a framework contract in 2018 for the construction of Units 7 and 8 of the Tianwan NPP based on VVER-1200 reactors. Work on building the units began in 2021.
“This is the first of four units,” Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said in spring 2026 regarding expectations for the physical start-up at unit no. 7 (which took place in August). Rosatom is also planning the commissioning of unit No. 8 at the Tianwan NPP and units no. 3 and no. 4 at the Xudabao NPP in China over the next 18 months.
The Tianwan NPP is on the coast of the Yellow Sea, approximately 30 km east of downtown Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China. The plant’s owner is Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation, a joint venture with majority owner a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The plant is scheduled to have eight Russian reactor units, with full operation is expected to commence in late 2027. Tianwan will be the world’s largest nuclear power plant, with generation capacity exceeding 9,000 MWe.
The cost for Phase I of the project, which involved the first two VVER-1000/428 units, was about US$3.2 billion, while the estimated cost for Phase II, which included the next two VVER-1000/428M units, is another US$6 billion. For units 1-4, the reactors are Rosatom products, while Russia’s Atomstroyexport designed the units as a whole.
