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Chinese nuclear reactor shutdown may be ‘a sign of caution over new design’

  • The Taishan plant is the first to use an EPR reactor that is meant to be safer
  • Developer could be trying to find source of fuel rod damage to alter design in the future, analyst says

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The Taishan plant under construction in 2013. It is the first in the world to use a reactor design meant to be safer and more efficient than previous technology. Photo: AFP

The shutdown of a nuclear reactor at a power plant in southern China could signal extra caution over a cutting-edge system that its developers plan to roll out in other countries, according to industry analysts.

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China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), which owns 70 per cent of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, said on Friday it had closed one of the plant’s reactors for maintenance work to repair damaged fuel rods.

The decision came one week after French energy conglomerate Électricité de France (EDF), which owns the remaining 30 per cent of the plant, suggested a shutdown of the reactor was necessary.

CGN described its decision on Friday as “conservative”.

The plant opened in 2018 and was the first in the world to use a Generation III+ reactor, also known as a European pressurised water reactor (EPR).

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Framatome, a subsidiary of EDF and a designer and supplier of nuclear reactors, has led the development of the EPR design, a model that is meant to be safer and more efficient than its predecessors.

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