Visitors check a scale model of the nuclear power plant in Haiyang, Shandong province. [Photo by NIE DONGLEI/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Green alternative replaces use of 12 local coal-fired water boilers

While heating costs in many cities in northern China have increased slightly this winter due to surging coal prices, Haiyang, Shandong province, has seen the opposite trend thanks to help from nuclear energy.

Residential buildings in Haiyang saw heating prices dip from 22 yuan ($3.45) per square meter to 21 yuan per square meter, as the city has started using heat generated from a nuclear power plant this winter. It thus became the first Chinese city to have carbon-free heating, said Zhang Jinfu, deputy mayor of Haiyang.

The nuclear energy heating project in East China's Shandong is able to provide winter warmth for 4.5 million square meters. This carbon-free alternative can replace the use of 12 local coal-fired water boilers and benefits 200,000 residents in Haiyang, and the move effectively increases heating efficiency while lowering costs, said its operator State Power Investment Corp.

The company launched a demonstration district heating system in Haiyang in November 2019, taking advantage of local nuclear energy facilities, and it has successfully provided nuclear heating services for some 700,000 square meters in the city.

The demonstration project is expected to further expand in Shandong province and benefit more local residents with clean heating that comes with ever-decreasing costs, the company said.

The Shandong government vows to achieve nuclear heating in all qualified regions on the Jiaodong Peninsula, Shandong, in the future, with the area on the peninsula enjoying such carbon-free heating expected to reach 200 million square meters by 2030, according to a plan released by State Power Investment Corp.

Luan Jian, head of Shandong's energy bureau, said the province will step up nuclear development on the peninsula during the 14th Five-Year-Plan period (2021-25) and actively push forward nuclear heating in the region.

The province also aims to have total nuclear installed capacity exceeding 13 million kilowatts by 2030, while focusing on building a 10-megawatt nuclear power base on the peninsula and actively promoting the use of nuclear energy for heating and other purposes.

According to SPIC, the nuclear heating project extracts nonradioactive steam from the secondary circuit of the two Haiyang AP1000 units, which is then fed through a multistage heat exchanger in an on-site heat exchange station.

The heat is then fed to an off-site heat exchange station belonging to a local thermal company, where heated water flows through municipal heating pipes to consumers.

Unit 1 and Unit 2 of the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong have produced more than 60 billion kilowatt-hours so far. Unit 1 of the plant is the world's largest cogeneration unit and has replaced 12 local coal-fired boilers, reducing the coal equivalent of 100,000 tons every heating season.

SPIC said the use of nuclear heating is expected to cut annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 180,000 tons, soot by 691 tons, sulfur dioxide by 1,188 tons and nitrogen oxide by 1,123 tons.

Analysts believe nuclear heating is an effective way to improve China's energy resource structure by utilizing nuclear energy for district heating, and to ease growing pressure on energy supplies.

Han Xiaoping, chief information officer at China Energy Net Consulting, said nuclear heating is an effective way to reduce emissions, as well as a key technological measure to combat pollution.