As China's nuclear power development shifts from “moderate development” to a new stage of “active promotion,” domestic nuclear power equipment has also entered a period of opportunity. On April 18, Premier Li Keqiang chaired the first meeting of the new National Energy Commission, explicitly stating that “new key nuclear power projects should be launched in the eastern coastal areas at an appropriate time, on the premise of adopting the highest international safety standards and ensuring safety.” This was another clear statement by Li Keqiang on nuclear power construction, following his proposal in the government work report to start a batch of nuclear power projects.

According to reporters, in the 12th Five-Year Plan for nuclear power development, the state once again raised the entry threshold for the nuclear power industry, added more safety review and assessment standards for nuclear power plants already built, under construction, and in preparation, and continuously strengthened standardization and supervision. In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan slowed the pace of global nuclear power development; however, as a clean and efficient new energy source, nuclear energy has already been widely recognized and utilized worldwide.

The special construction techniques and equipment configurations of nuclear power construction, as well as its high attention to construction safety, have made the construction machinery and equipment involved in nuclear power construction noteworthy. Construction machinery products represented by large crawler cranes, all-terrain cranes, and large excavators will gain rare development space. The complexity of nuclear power construction will also further promote changes and development in large construction machinery products, indicating that as new energy construction receives increasing attention, new energy projects represented by nuclear power, wind energy, and tidal energy have successively started construction in recent years, and construction machinery will also embrace new development opportunities. At the same time, in addition to conventional construction machinery and equipment, manufacturers of sand and gravel aggregate crushing and screening equipment, concrete mixing equipment, pumping equipment, tower cranes, and large crawler crane machinery can all find business opportunities in this new round of nuclear power construction.

Large crawler crane hoisting a nuclear power plant dome

The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan shook public confidence in nuclear safety to a certain extent and triggered profound reflection worldwide on nuclear energy development. Over the past two years and more, countries have developed a more objective and rational understanding of nuclear energy development. As a clean, safe, and large-scale substitutable form of energy, nuclear energy remains an important choice for many countries to meet energy demand, safeguard energy security, address climate change, and ease resource and environmental pressures. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, on the basis of active response and comprehensive assessment, the Chinese government reiterated its unshakable policy of developing nuclear energy, and nuclear power construction has now steadily returned to normal. China currently has 17 nuclear power units in commercial operation, with a total installed capacity of 14.7 million kilowatts, and 29 nuclear power units under construction, with a total installed capacity of 30.57 million kilowatts. China has become one of the centers of global nuclear power development. With the implementation of China's energy conservation and emission reduction policies and the fulfillment of the medium- and long-term nuclear power development plan, nuclear energy will occupy an even larger share of China's energy structure. As a direct beneficiary, the construction machinery industry will achieve further development through this opportunity, especially with the application of large machinery products being greatly driven forward.

On June 24, the dome of Unit 4 of the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant was accurately positioned above the nuclear island, and the dome hoisting work was successfully completed. This marks the transition of the nuclear island construction of Unit 4 from the civil construction stage to the installation stage, achieving another important milestone in nuclear island construction.

At 5:16 that day, with an order from the chief hoisting commander, the dome of Unit 4 slowly rose in the lights. After rising to the specified height, the crane began to rotate, moving the dome directly above the No. 4 nuclear island. Subsequently, the crane slowly lowered the hook, and the dome was accurately positioned. The entire hoisting process lasted more than an hour.

Nuclear power construction increases demand for many large construction machines

At present, there are 7 sites along the coast that have been fully demonstrated, namely Tianwan Phase II and Phase III, Haiyang Phase II, Fuqing Phase I, Yangjiang Phase I, Hongyanhe Phase II, and Xudabao Phase I. These projects will install a total of 14 new domestic units with a standby capacity of 1.08 million kilowatts each, totaling 15.12 million kilowatts. Although no clear policy signal has yet been seen on the restart of new nuclear power projects, since the State Council executive meeting approved two major nuclear power plans last October, preliminary work has successively begun on more than 15 million kilowatts of proposed nuclear power projects that had been demonstrated before Japan's “3·11 accident,” some equipment suppliers have obtained orders for main equipment, and bidding for auxiliary equipment has also begun one after another. The above-mentioned new projects of more than 15 million kilowatts will successively start construction before 2016, and the market for corresponding equipment required for nuclear power plant construction will then be fully released, with a scale of up to 210 billion yuan.

Construction machinery enterprises face higher requirements

On the basis of comprehensive nuclear safety inspections and ongoing daily safety assessments, the National Nuclear Safety Administration drafted the “12th Five-Year Plan for Nuclear Safety and Radioactive Pollution Prevention and Control and the 2020 Vision” (hereinafter referred to as the “Nuclear Safety Plan”) in February 2012 and solicited public opinions. The State Council deliberated and approved and issued the “Nuclear Safety Plan” in May of the same year. The plan proposed China's 2020 vision for nuclear safety: the safety level of operating and under-construction nuclear facilities will continue to improve; during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016—2020) and thereafter, new nuclear power units will strive to practically eliminate the possibility of large releases of radioactive materials by design; a national nuclear and radiation safety supervision technology R&D base and a nationwide radiation environmental monitoring system will be fully established; and a fully functional, responsive, and efficiently operating nuclear and radiation accident emergency response system will be formed. By 2020, nuclear power safety will maintain the international advanced level, the level of nuclear safety and radioactive pollution prevention and control will be comprehensively improved, and radiation environmental quality will remain good.

After the Fukushima nuclear accident, the Chinese government suspended plans to build inland nuclear power plants. Worldwide, some countries adopted measures to abandon nuclear power, and as a result are affected in terms of energy today. For example, Germany shut down nuclear power plants after Fukushima and used wind power generation, but recently, due to lack of wind, it has been unable to generate electricity; after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, Japan shut down some nuclear power plants, directly affecting its summer power supply and at the same time causing local enterprises to reduce production capacity or move production abroad, seriously affecting the country's economic development. In the construction of new projects, the performance and technical indicators of products such as large crawler cranes will be correspondingly improved.

In order to better seize the opportunity, some enterprises have successively launched specialized products. Recently, China's first AP1000 nuclear power plant polar crane successfully rolled off the production line at Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group. The AP1000 nuclear power plant polar crane is currently the polar crane with the largest load-bearing capacity in the world. Its successful rollout is of great significance for enhancing China's independent nuclear power capability and promoting the safe and efficient development of the nuclear power industry. On March 25, China's first localized fuel handling machine for the reactor building of the AP1000 third-generation nuclear power technology, manufactured by Dalian Heavy Industry, rolled off the production line. In addition, Dalian Heavy Industry has undertaken the manufacturing tasks of 8 AP1000 lifting equipment units for the National Nuclear Power Technology Engineering Company, including 1 nuclear power plant polar bridge crane, 3 spent fuel cranes, 2 fuel grabbing machines, and 2 fuel handling machines. Sany, XCMG, and Zoomlion have also successively launched large crawler cranes and all-terrain cranes to the market in recent years, and construction machinery enterprises are preparing to embrace this nuclear power construction opportunity.