A spherical fuel element production line developed by CNNC China North Nuclear Fuel Co. [Photo/Baotou Daily]

The world's first batch of spherical nuclear fuel elements for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors was shipped from CNNC China North Nuclear Fuel Co and sent to the Shidaowan High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor Nuclear Power Plant demonstration project on Jan 9, to provide fuel for subsequent grid-connected power generation.

A total of 78,480 spherical fuel elements were sent to the demonstration nuclear power plant, which will officially be put into the reactor in April.

The demonstration project of Shidaowan High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor Nuclear Power Plant is the first of its kind in China, with independent intellectual property rights.

Due to its inherent safety and the versatility of high-temperature thermal energy, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors are regarded internationally as the priority research and development target of fourth-generation nuclear energy systems.

Spherical fuel elements are an important basis for the inherent safety of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, and their manufacturing technology is one of the main technical challenges for the development of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.

The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power fuel element production line developed by CNNC China North Nuclear Fuel Co is the world's first and only industrial-scale spherical fuel element production line for which China has completely independent intellectual property rights.

The production line is designed to produce 300,000 spherical fuel elements per year after it goes into production.

It includes a complete production line for chemical conversion, core particle preparation, coated fuel particle preparation, spherical fuel element preparation, matrix graphite powder preparation, and waste liquid treatment and solid waste recovery.

The production line started preparatory construction in 2004 and officially started construction in March 2013. It was officially put into production in March 2016, and passed the product qualification appraisal in August 2016. On July 17, 2017, the 200,000th spherical nuclear fuel element rolled off the assembly line, marking the moment that the production line fully reached its design capacity.

As China's first nuclear fuel element plant, CNNC China North Nuclear Fuel Co, built in 1958, is one of China’s current nuclear fuel and nuclear material production and scientific research bases.