Published : 2024-12-15
On December 15, 1991, China's Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (秦山核電站) in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, officially started generating and connecting power to the grid.
In the 1960s, the power supply in East China frequently experienced shortages, with "power shortages" severely impacting economic development.
China proposed building nuclear power plants in the 1970s, and on March 1985, the construction of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant began.
It is the first nuclear power plant in Mainland China to be independently researched, designed, and constructed. With a total investment of 1.2 billion CNY, it used pressurised water reactor that was already mature internationally and has a designed lifespan of 30 years.
Once at full power, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant can supply 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the East China power grid annually, alleviating the energy shortage.
The success of the power plant marked the maturity of nuclear power technology in China. It also made China the seventh country in the world to independently design and build a nuclear power plant, after the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the former Soviet Union, Canada, and Sweden.
