China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that the first phase of a district heating demonstration project at the Qinshan nuclear power plant in China’s southern Zhejiang Province has been commissioned recently. With a total investment of about CNY 940M (USD 148M), the project entered its trial operation phase on 15 November.
The Qinshan demonstration project is divided into three phases. The initial phase provides nuclear energy generated central heating to 460,000 square metres of accommodation in three residential areas and 5000 square metres of apartments for nearly 4000 residents of Haiyan County. The overall project goal is to have a nuclear heating area of 4 million square metres by 2025.
The company estimates that once the project is fully implemented, it will supply 704,000 gigajoules of heat, meeting the heating demand of 4 million square metres. Compared with the electric heating method in the southern region, this can save 196 million kilowatt-hours of electric energy consumption annually. Compared with coal-fired thermal power plants, it can reduce the annual consumption of standard coal by about 24,600 tonnes, reducing the annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 59,000 tonnes, sulphur dioxide by 1817 tonnes and nitrogen oxides by 908 tonnes.