Qualla: Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant

Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On June 24, 2022, the sixth and final reactor at the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant reached full operational capacity, making this coastal facility in Liaoning Province the largest nuclear power station in northeast China. With a total installed capacity of 6,710 megawatts -- enough to power a mid-sized country -- Hongyanhe represents the scale and speed of China's nuclear ambitions. From approval to full operation, the entire project spanned just sixteen years, a timeline that would be remarkable anywhere in the world but is characteristic of China's drive to decarbonize its energy grid in the industrial heartland of Manchuria.

Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant: From Excavation to Criticality

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The project won approval from China's National Development and Reform Commission in April 2006, with an initial budget of 23 billion renminbi for the first two units. Construction began that summer with the excavation of two massive pits on the Liaodong Peninsula coast at Donggan...

Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant: Two Generations of Reactor Technology

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Hongyanhe's six reactors represent two generations of Chinese nuclear engineering. Phase I consists of four CPR-1000 reactors, a design China developed from the French Framatome-designed pressurized water reactors at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong. Phase II introdu...

Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant: A Joint Venture on the Bohai Coast

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The plant operates as a joint venture split 45-45-10 between three entities: the State Power Investment Corporation (formerly China Power Investment Corporation), the China General Nuclear Power Group, and the Dalian Construction Investment Group. This partnership structure refle...

Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant: Power for the Rust Belt's Future

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Northeast China -- the old industrial base that once powered the nation's heavy industry -- has struggled with economic transition in recent decades. Hongyanhe's 6,710 MW of clean baseload power is part of the answer to a question that hangs over the region: how to maintain indus...