China launched the Heqi No 1 steam heating system, helping to reduce coal consumption by 400,000 tons by switching from coal to nuclear power.
To shift away from fossil fuels, China is addressing industrial needs with nuclear power instead of electricity from coal. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) confirmed that the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province has started supplying steam to the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industry Base, Interesting Engineering reported on June 21.
With the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2060, China is using many solutions and diversifying clean energy sources. The country has built some of the world’s leading large solar power plants, and has also invested heavily in building nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants aim to meet industrial demand for heat and electricity, replacing the coal-fired power that helped China develop for decades.
In 2022, China will launch a nuclear power steam supply project at a cost of 108 million USD. To date, construction of the project has been completed and the factory began operations this week.
The nuclear power steam project named Heqi No 1 was built by CNNC. The project uses nuclear power to turn water into steam in a high-pressure machine (a machine that boils water from a desalination plant). The steam is then sent approximately 23 km, via above-ground pipelines, to the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industry Base. Here, after passing through many heat exchange systems, steam will be used for heating needs.
To increase safety, the project will continuously monitor the radiation level of steam and stop operating immediately when abnormalities are detected, CNNC said. When operating at full capacity, the project can provide nearly 5 million tons of steam annually to industrial facilities.
By switching from coal to nuclear power, Heqi No 1 is estimated to help reduce coal consumption by 400,000 tons. This could help reduce more than one million tons of CO2, 184 tons of SO2 and 263 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions. For the petrochemical industry, the operation of Heqi No 1 also allows saving more than 700,000 tons of emissions according to the carbon quota, which requires planting trees on an area of 2,900 hectares.