CGN’s Ningde NPP records best performance during first outage

CGN’s Ningde nuclear power plant (NPP) Unit 4 clinched a record in its first outage among its domestic peers in terms of safety, number of accidents and collective radiation exposure.

The first outage project started on Aug 21 and was completed with the Unit 4 connecting to the grid on Oct 15. It recorded no safety accidents and reported the lowest collective radiation exposure after the 54.2-day maintenance.

Adhering to the corporation’s core value of “Doing Things Right in One Go”, the project team took concerted efforts to secure the best results, including management of keeping equipment intact, practical exercises to avoid mis-operation, and special training, based on previous experience.

The minimum-required safety system and equipment for reactor shutdown was kept intact as the maintenance team implemented a number of measures including physical isolation, planning control, field inspection and wide publicity.

In addition, the team conducted both theory training and practical operations for those who are prone to mis-operation, including scaffold builders, workers on insulation and anti-corrosion, cleaners and civil engineers. The move greatly helped enhance workers’ awareness of avoiding mis-operation.

Furthermore, the team improved safety management efficiency by adopting accountability system, dividing the plant into 33 areas, and assigning responsibilities.

The shielding facilities for this outage also helped reduce the collective radiation exposure to a minimum level compared with the same type of CGN’s outage projects.