Construction of Chinese small modular reactor achieves major milestone

A major structural component for China’s ACP100 demonstration small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) has been installed at the Changjiang nuclear power plant (NPP), on the Chinese island province of Hainan, “World Nuclear News” has reported. The component is a steel containment vessel bottom head, which is shaped like a giant bowl and forms, as its name says, the bottom element of the reactor containment vessel. The bottom head was installed on the SMR NPP’s concrete foundation plate. The internal components of a reactor vessel are supported by the bottom head or by the containment vessel’s cylindrical side wall. The side wall is itself also mounted on the bottom head. The vessel is completed by a top head, shaped pretty much like an inverted bowl, and usually removable (to facilitate refuelling).