World’s most widely deployed nuclear reactor enters batch-scale builds

China’s third-generation nuclear reactor, Hualong One, has become the world’s most widely deployed single reactor design, with 41 units either operating or under construction nationwide. The reactor, entirely domestically produced, can generate approximately 10 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually—enough to power about one million people in a moderately developed country. Several reactors, including the Cangnan project in Zhejiang Province, are nearing full operation, while new units are being built in Guangdong, Shandong, and Jiangsu provinces. China is also expanding the Changjiang Nuclear Power Base in Hainan, the world’s largest Hualong One complex, which recently completed its first construction phase. The first unit, Fuqing Unit 5, has operated for five years and generated over 43 billion kilowatt-hours of clean power, undergoing its first routine refueling outage in early 2024. The export version of Hualong One, known as HPR1000, has been adopted internationally,