Baosteel to Supply Steel for Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan

(Beijing) — Shanghai-based Baosteel Co. Ltd. has won a bid to supply steel to Pakistan’s Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, the first export deal for China-designed third-generation nuclear power technology.

Baosteel said in a statement Monday that its steel will be used in the heat exchangers of the plant, which is being built by China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and has been under construction since 2015.

The 2,200-megawatt Karachi project, slated to come online in 2020, will be the first overseas nuclear plant armed with the China-designed third-generation Hualong One (HPR1000) reactor.

Third-generation nuclear power technology development has so far been dominated by the AP1000 plant, designed by Westinghouse Electric Co., and the EPR pressurized water reactor, which was co-developed by Areva NP, Electricite de France (EDF) and Siemens in Germany.

China ceased to be dependent on imported AP1000 plants in 2015 when the nation’s two major nuclear firms, CNNC and China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN), launched the HPR1000, lessening the impact of Westinghouse’s seeking bankruptcy protection last month.

China has secured several deals to construct nuclear power stations abroad, but some of the older projects have either used second-generation technology, such as Chashma in Pakistan, or foreign designs, such as the planned Hinkley Point and Sizewell plants in the U.K., which will use EPR technology.

China also plans to continue to export its HPR1000 technology. In January, the U.K.’s nuclear regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency, announced plans to start a Generic Design Assessment of the HPR1000 reactor design, according to a statement on the U.K. government’s website.

Introduced in 2007, GDA is a voluntary process for reactor vendors, but the British government expects all new projects to pass the assessment. EPR and AP1000 have both passed, a process that takes more than five years.

Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)