With an average capacity factor of 96.8%, what kind of hard "nuclear" road has Qinshan Nuclear Power taken?
Recently, the reporter walked into the Nuclear Power Science and Technology Museum located in Haiyan County, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province. On the quartz clock on the wall, an eternal moment is permanently frozen: at 0:15 on December 15, 1991, the first nuclear power in Chinese mainland was sent from the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant. So far, "China's nuclear power starts from here" and has achieved a "zero breakthrough".
The time hand came to midnight on January 1, 2024, and a new world record was born at Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant to welcome the new year. In 2023, the average capacity factor of the nine nuclear power units at the Qinshan Nuclear Power Base will reach 96.8%, ranking first among the world's nuclear power bases with six or more units, with a cumulative safe power generation of more than 800 billion kWh.
The picture shows the Qinshan Nuclear Power Base. Photo by Cheng Xiaoyu
From the first degree of nuclear power to the cumulative power generation of 800 billion kWh, the average capacity factor of the nine nuclear power units has reached 96.8%...... Sets of record-breaking data are constantly being created at Qinshan Nuclear Power. A reporter from Zhonghuan Daily recently followed the media line of China National Nuclear Corporation to reveal the hard core road of Qinshan Nuclear Power behind the 96.8% capacity factor.
Lead the overhaul acceleration
The unit capacity factor is the ratio of the power generation that can be obtained in a certain period of time to the reference power generation, and has been recognized by the international nuclear power industry as one of the important indicators that can best reflect the safety management level of nuclear power and measure the safe power generation capacity of the unit.
"The average capacity factor reached 96.8%, which is a brilliant report card, and it is also a reflection of the comprehensive operation and management level of Qinshan Nuclear Power. Wu Bingquan, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Qinshan Nuclear Power, told reporters, "This means that we can ensure the continuous operation of nuclear power plant units 365 days a year roughly 96.8% of the time." Except for the necessary overhaul schedules for nuclear power units, unplanned power generation losses are almost non-existent. ”
In order to ensure that the units and equipment are maintained at a good level of safety, the nuclear power plant, which is in constant operation on weekdays, also has moments of "stopping" every 10 to 20 months to meet the necessary full-body "medical examination", which is the professional term "overhaul" in the nuclear power population - a large-scale maintenance activity carried out intensively according to the planned shutdown.
Optimizing the time "window" for the overhaul of nuclear power units plays a key role in the improvement of the average capacity factor. "The shorter the overhaul window, the higher the social benefits of the nuclear power plant. Taking a million-dollar nuclear power unit as an example, one day of power generation can create 10 million yuan of direct economic income. Wang Wei, chief engineer of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Overhaul Management Office, told reporters.
However, this necessary "physical examination" is also a comprehensive project with the most concentrated tasks, the widest scope, the most coordination factors and the highest management requirements in the production and operation and maintenance activities of nuclear power plants. "There are often 6,000-10,000 work orders that need to be completed centrally. Wang Wei used a set of data to explain the "difficulty" of overhaul.
How to ensure the safety and quality of nuclear power units and successfully complete the task in the case of racing against time?
On the road of digital and intelligent transformation, Qinshan Nuclear Power has accelerated its overhaul. Since 2017, Qinshan Nuclear Power has explored an iterative method of excellent construction period, benchmarked the best construction period of each window for the overhaul of the same type of unit in China, combined with the characteristics of the unit and the characteristics of technical specifications, and formulated the 0 version of the excellent construction period for each unit and each type of overhaul. At the same time, iDaxiu, a comprehensive one-stop digital overhaul management platform with the four stages of overhaul as the framework, the whole process of overhaul business as the scenario, and the concept of virtual digital manager, has entered the "fast lane" of digital intelligence of nuclear power overhaul.
"On iDaxiu's platform, thousands of work orders can be planned in advance according to the material situation, equipment level, planning and scheduling, etc. In critical path control, the operation steps are subdivided into hours, and often after the previous task is completed, the information is pushed to the next person in charge in time to achieve 'zero interface'. In the past, we used to take the phone to arrange round by round, and the workflow of combing through with paper and pen, but now we can calculate it with hundreds of thousands of rolling data. Zhu Zhiqiang, chief of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Information Management Department, told reporters.
The acceleration of digital intelligence is quantified in the excellent overhaul results. So far, Qinshan Nuclear Power has created a new benchmark for the performance of China's nuclear power ABC overhaul, laying a solid step for the improvement of the average capacity factor.
Tighten each "nut"
Safety is an unavoidable theme in the operation of nuclear power plants, and it is also a prerequisite for the stable improvement of the guarantee capacity factor.
In the main control room of Qinshan Nuclear Power Phase III, the steps and processes of nuclear power safety operation have a specific portrait. When this reporter stepped into the main control room, known as the "brain" of the nuclear power plant, he saw various fluorescent flickering electronic screens and large and small buttons covering the entire control console. The operator is in the middle of it, methodically issuing various commands and precisely manipulating the instrument in the palm of his hand.
This group of operators hidden in the "heart" of the nuclear power plant to ensure the smooth operation of the huge nuclear power unit also has a unique name - "golden people".
"From working at a nuclear power plant to becoming an operator, I need to accumulate more than five years of work experience, master more than 100 courses, and go through thousands of exams. If you convert the training costs spent on each operator into gold, it will be as high as one person. That's why we, the manipulators, are also called 'golden men'. Gao Weiguang, director of the main control room of the Fangjiashan million unit of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant after the 80s, explained to reporters.
Gao Weiguang still remembers the weight of responsibility he took on when he first sat on the main console. "People have the impression that the tall and giant equipment of the nuclear power plant may be reflected on the screen in the main control room, just a picture, an indicator light. With a single mouse click, the operator can make a huge device start up suddenly. In order to ensure that there are no mistakes, muscle memory is required for each operation. ”
The orderly operation of nuclear power equipment is inseparable from the accurate judgment of a mouse click of the "behind-the-scenes" operator, and it also requires the "front of the stage" of the unit monitoring line, and the nuclear power plant masters and nuts are more serious.
"Master Liu, who is maintaining a place, found a nut on the ground when he inspected the site of the renovation of the rod control rod position of the Qinyi Factory. But it was such an inconspicuous nut that allowed him to finally find out all the other screws that were loose or fell off during the handling process, and directly nip the potential safety hazards in the bud. Zhang Hongyao, director of the Nuclear Safety Department of Qinshan Nuclear Power, shared with reporters a real case that happened at Qinshan Nuclear Power.
In order to build a solid bottom line for the safety of nuclear power plants, Qinshan Nuclear Power strictly implements the dual prevention mechanism of risk classification control and hidden danger investigation and management. "From a practical point of view, we have carried out classified and hierarchical prevention of inherent security risks and dynamic security risk management and control, and invested corresponding management and control resources according to the risk level. At the same time, we will promote the standardization of hidden danger investigation and management, use 37 kinds of safety inspection small white cards in 6 categories, and carry out grid-based and full-coverage hidden danger investigation through 100 inspection routes, so as to effectively ensure the depth of investigation. Zhao Bing, deputy director of the safety and quality department of Qinshan nuclear power, said.
Unleash the pro-"nuclear" power of nuclear energy
Different from the stereotype of "talking about nuclear color change", people in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, are coexisting with nuclear energy.
Standing at the highest point of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, the reporter looked into the distance, and within 1 kilometer of the nuclear power plant, the outline of the village could be clearly seen. "Wenxiwu Village, 7 kilometers away from here, is a famous longevity village, and there are many 80 and 90-year-old people in the village. Tian Guihong, deputy director of the Party and Mass Work Office of Qinshan Nuclear Power, pointed to reporters in the direction not far away, "The radiation dose received by residents around the nuclear power plant is only 0.01 millisieverts a year, which is only equivalent to a cigarette in terms of radiation." ”
In Haiyan County, Qinshan Nuclear Power has lit up thousands of homes while continuously releasing the pro-"nuclear" power of nuclear energy in more fields. Some "nuclear" heating is flowing into people's homes through the pipeline network of Qinshan Nuclear Power Station.
As a safe and efficient green energy, nuclear energy is an ideal alternative energy source to break the bottleneck of heating supply in the south and achieve clean heating.
As the first nuclear heating project in southern China, Haiyan currently has a central heating area of nearly 600,000 square meters. In December 2021, the Qinshan Nuclear Energy Heating Project was put into operation in Haiyan, and the first batch of heating coverage covered nearly 4,000 households in three living communities in the city. In November 2023, the heating area will be extended to areas such as Haiyan Elderly Care Service Center.
In the Haiyan Elderly Care Service Center, the elderly are no longer bound by heavy down jackets, scarves and gloves, but can easily read, talk and draw in a comfortable room, a warm scene. "It's warm, and I'm energetic to do anything. Zhang Zhenzhen, a 78-year-old who lives in a pension service center, said.
Pang Ming, the person in charge of Zhejiang Zero Carbon Heating Company, calculated the economic and green accounts behind this for reporters: "In terms of heating prices, in a heating season, the nuclear heating fee for Haiyan residential buildings is about 30 yuan per square meter, and the heating fee for residential buildings with an area of 100 square meters is about 3,000 yuan." At the same time, without affecting the original power generation and safety performance of the unit, we use the remaining heat energy of the nuclear power unit for heating, which is equivalent to maximizing the 'waste heat'. Compared with coal-fired thermal power units, it can reduce standard coal by about 10,000 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by about 24,000 tons per year. ”
In the future planning of Qinshan Nuclear Power, the first zero-carbon high-quality development demonstration zone in China based on the comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy will be settled here.
The picture shows the stone monument in front of the Nuclear Power Science and Technology Museum. Photo by Cheng Xiaoyu
"When I first came to Haiyan, there were only two streets in the county. Wu Bingquan, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Qinshan Nuclear Power, talked about the changes in Haiyan. "In the future, we will create a new urban space for the future with zero carbon in the whole area. Qinshan Nuclear Power will give full play to the safe, efficient and clean characteristics of nuclear energy, promote the comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy, establish a zero-carbon comprehensive energy supply platform, supply electricity, heat, cold, hydrogen, compressed air to the surrounding areas, and vigorously cultivate nuclear power-related, high-end equipment manufacturing, isotope production and application industrial chains and digital economy industrial clusters. ”
The transformation is also engraved on the foothills of Qinshan Mountain, and the four words "Spring Dawn of Qinshan" are written on the stone tablet. This historical stele has witnessed China's nuclear power starting from scratch, Haiyan eating "nuclear rice" and installing "generators", and has undergone the rebirth of "from a traditional agricultural county to a top 100 county". It is also like a spring song, after blowing the variation of Qinshan nuclear power to set a new world record, it will continue to compose the next spring of nuclear power industry.
