Qualla: Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant

Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WPTO, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most nuclear power plants generate electricity. Haiyang does that too -- its two operational reactors pump roughly 20 terawatt-hours per year into Shandong province's grid. But what makes this facility on China's northeastern coast genuinely unusual is what it does with its waste heat. Since 2020, the Haiyang plant has piped thermal energy into the surrounding city, replacing coal-fired heating plants with nuclear warmth. By November 2022, it was heating 200,000 homes using 345 megawatts of thermal output, making it China's largest nuclear district heating project.

Image: WPTO | CC BY-SA 4.0

Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant: The AP1000 Arrives in Shandong

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WPTO, CC BY-SA 4.0. Haiyang was the second site in China to receive AP1000 reactors, the Westinghouse-designed pressurized water reactors that represented a new generation of nuclear technology emphasizing passive safety systems. Groundbreaking came one month ahead of schedule on July 30, 2008, and ...

Image: WPTO | CC BY-SA 4.0

Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant: From Electricity to Radiators

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WPTO, CC BY-SA 4.0. The plant's district heating program began modestly, warming roughly 700,000 square meters of housing in its initial phase. The concept is straightforward but ambitious: extract thermal energy from the reactor's secondary cooling loop and pipe it to residential buildings, elimina...

Image: WPTO | CC BY-SA 4.0

Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant: Building Toward Six Reactors

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WPTO, CC BY-SA 4.0. Haiyang's ambitions extend well beyond its first two units. Construction on Unit 3, using the domestically developed CAP1000 reactor design derived from the AP1000, began on July 7, 2022. Unit 4 followed on April 22, 2023. Plans exist for Units 5 and 6 as well, which would bring ...

Image: WPTO | CC BY-SA 4.0

Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant: A Coastal Campus of Concrete and Steam

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WPTO, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sitting on the Yellow Sea coast of Shandong province at Haiyang, the plant occupies a stretch of shoreline that provides the cold seawater essential for reactor cooling. The facility is operated by Shandong Nuclear Power Company and represents one node in China's rapid expansion ...

Image: WPTO | CC BY-SA 4.0