China pours first concrete for Haiyang-5 as Shandong site heads for 7.5 GW

A 62-hour pour at Haiyang

Contractor China Nuclear Industry 24 Construction Co, or CNNC 24, poured the first safety-related concrete for the Haiyang-5 nuclear island on 31 October, World Nuclear News reported on 2 November. State Power Investment Corp, or SPIC, announced the start on Chinese social media, and state media carried it. SPIC hired CNNC 24, a China National Nuclear Corporation subsidiary, to build the nuclear islands for units 5 and 6.

The pour used about 6,626 cubic metres of concrete and was expected to run for nearly 62 hours.

CNNC 24 called the pour the official start of main construction of unit 5 and of full-scale work on Phase III.

What the six units add up to

Phase III adds units 5 and 6, each a CAP1000 pressurised water reactor. With all six running, Kenya Today puts the complex at about 7.5 GW of installed capacity. Projected annual generation is 60.9 billion kWh, enough for about 54 million residents, and heating capacity above 150 million square metres.

The project says the site would save about 18.56 million tonnes of standard coal and cut 48.63 million tonnes of CO2 a year.

Two figures for one reactor

Sources disagree on the size of a single unit. NucNet describes Haiyang-5 as a 1,161-MW CAP1000, while Kenya Today puts each new reactor at roughly 1,300 MW gross.

Liu Fei said design optimisation had raised each unit's rated electrical output to 1.3 million kW. The CAP1000 is China's Generation III version of Westinghouse's AP1000 design. Haiyang's first phase was two AP1000 units, which entered commercial operation in October 2018 and January 2019. Phase II, two CAP1000 units, began construction in July 2022 and April 2025, and both are due fully operational in 2027.

China's reactor queue

China has 120 nuclear units in operation or approved for construction, with 135 million kW of combined capacity, ranking first worldwide. Of those, 64 are operating at about 68.59 million kW, second in the world, and 56 are under construction or approved, first. Industry associations forecast that China's operating nuclear capacity could be the world's largest before 2030, and reach 200 million kW by 2040.

Units 5 and 6 were approved by the State Council on 27 April 2025, and the National Nuclear Safety Administration issued the permits.

What happens next

Remaining work on unit 5 covers the nuclear island foundation, reactor building structures, mechanical and electrical installation, pressure testing, fuel loading and regulatory commissioning.