China starts construction on new nuclear power units in southern port city

Two new nuclear power units, utilizing domestically designed third-generation Hualong One nuclear technology, began construction on Friday in the southern Chinese port city of Fangchenggang, marking a major expansion of the country's key nuclear energy base.

The new No. 5 and No. 6 units at the Fangchenggang nuclear power station will each have a capacity of over 1.2 million kilowatts and are expected to generate a combined 20 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually upon completion, according to the Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.

Located in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Fangchenggang project plans to have six nuclear power units in total. The first two units became operational in 2016, while the No. 3 and No. 4 units, both using Hualong One, entered service in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

By the end of March 2025, the four operating units at Fangchenggang had generated more than 160 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to saving over 48 million tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 131 million tons.

Yang Changli, chairman of the China General Nuclear Power Corporation, which owns the Fangchenggang project, said the Hualong One industrial chain has helped enable the domestic production of over 400 key components, involving more than 5,400 upstream and downstream enterprises.

Once fully completed, the Fangchenggang nuclear power base will boast a total installed capacity of 6.9 million kilowatts and an annual electricity output of 53 billion kilowatt-hours.

Experts say the expansion will significantly contribute to Guangxi's energy transition and high-quality economic development.

China's nuclear power development has always adhered to the principle of "safety first," and the country has become one of the few in the world to possess a complete nuclear power industrial system, said Zhang Xing, an official with the National Energy Administration (NEA).

In 2024, China's nuclear power generation reached 450.9 billion kilowatt-hours, marking a 3.7 percent year-on-year increase and accounting for 4.5 percent of the country's total electricity production. It resulted in an equivalent reduction of approximately 140 million tons of standard coal consumption and about 370 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, NEA data showed.