China has embarked on a successful path of domestically made nuclear power development, from the general procurement model of foreign equipment with a high import rate of 99% to the current domestic production rate of nearly 90% of nuclear power plant equipment. This is inseparable from the efforts of tens of thousands of nuclear industry workers and the efforts of a number of private enterprises in localization of core equipment.

In the breakthrough of replacing nuclear grade cable by localization, many industry experts are discouraged because of "few reference materials" and "great technical difficulty". But autonomy and control is a matter of national strategy and plays an important role in international competition. We must shoulder the banner and fulfill this great mission. Anhui Cable Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Anhui Cable"), a subsidiary of Far East Intelligent Energy Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Far East Stock Code: 600869"), has defied the difficulties and cast high-end nuclear cable "moat" with its "hard core" strength, making a unique contribution to build "national instrument".

Anhui Cable Factory

From 1 percent to 86.7 percent of nuclear power equipment has been domestically produced

As we all know, China has become the world's largest manufacturer, but it still faces a bottleneck in some high-end technologies. Take nuclear power plants, one of the most complex industrial systems in the world today.

Compared with conventional power plants, nuclear power plants have high requirements on safety and reliability. The production process of nuclear power plant is in high temperature and high pressure environment, which is highly corrosive and radioactive. Therefore, the safe and reliable operation of nuclear power plants puts forward high requirements on the quality, performance and reliability of supporting equipment.　　

Schematic diagram of nuclear Power generation

In the early stage of the development of China's nuclear power industry, the construction of nuclear power plants was mainly procured by the general contract of foreign equipment. During the construction of daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in 1987, the rate of equipment import reached 99%, even steel bar and cement were no exception. By 1997, when Lingao Phase I nuclear power plant was built, the localization rate reached 30%. By the second phase of Lingao, the localization rate of the two units reached 64%. Moreover, the localization rate of The second phase of Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant, the demonstration project Hualong No. 1, reached 86.7%.

The leap of localization of nuclear power plant equipment witnessed the continuous development of nuclear power in China step by step, and also remembered the efforts made by all nuclear industry and supporting enterprises for localization of nuclear power plant equipment.

The technology has kept experts at bay, but they've risen to the challenge

As an important part of nuclear power plant, nuclear grade cable has been monopolized by foreign enterprises for a long time because of technical barriers. Since the 1990s, the rapid development of nuclear power plants in China requires a large number of nuclear cables. Importing nuclear grade cables is not only expensive, but also often delays in delivery. Although K2, K3 type cable has gradually realized the localization, but the higher level K1 type cable is long-term dependent on imports.

Different from ordinary cables, nuclear grade cables not only have to ensure normal operation under normal working conditions, but also ensure normal operation under many extreme working conditions such as "loss of reactor coolant, rupture of main steam pipeline, and rupture of other high-energy pipelines". In these extreme cases, there are not only harsh conditions such as high temperature and high pressure, but also large amounts of radiation. Radiation can accelerate the aging of cable insulation and shorten the service life of cable greatly. Nuclear power plant design service life is 60 years, so the life of cable is also 60 years, which requires cable materials and technology must have subversive breakthrough.

With few reference materials and many key technologies stuck in the neck, many cable companies can only be discouraged. At that time, Anhui cable has "stood up" to carry the flag - research and development can replace the import of nuclear power plant cables, and the performance must reach the international level. This is not only an arduous task, but also a great mission.

How to ensure the single vertical combustion performance and electrical insulation performance of insulated wire core? How to ensure the structural safety of insulation under high temperature and high pressure? And the most difficult technical problem -- how to solve the radiation resistance of K1 type cable? These are the "bottleneck" problems facing anchoring research and development team.

There was no reference material in China, so I translated it sentence by sentence from a lot of English materials. Cable R&D team race against time in countless night, explore the nuclear class cable localization on the journey of struggle, and have made "Hualong" number one nuclear containment vessel 1 e K1 class harsh environment with cable, prevent jet refractory cable, Marine cable, three generations of Marine nuclear power platform plant harsh cable with high-performance synthetic rubber and other major scientific and technological achievements.

Secure Cable to Seize the bridgehead of high-end nuclear Cable Market

The successful development of the cable for harsh environment of the third generation nuclear power plant in Anhui marks that China has broken the monopoly of nuclear grade cable technology of foreign countries and officially entered the ranks of advanced countries in nuclear power technology, which has effectively enhanced the competitiveness of domestic nuclear grade cable in the international market. This is of great significance to China's transition from a nuclear power country to a nuclear power country.

At the same time, Anhui cable has won many honors such as National High-tech Products, Industrial Quality products of Anhui Province, second prize of Science and Technology Award of China National Nuclear Corporation, second prize of Science and Technology Award of China Nuclear Energy Industry Association, second prize of Science and Technology Award of Anhui Province and so on.

Anhui cable won the honor

In addition, Anhui cable nuclear grade cable performance is also very bright, participating in many domestic and foreign nuclear power plant projects, including: Qinshan, Guangxi Fangchenggang, Jiangsu Tianwan, Fujian Fuqing, Hainan Changjiang, Pakistan Chashma, Algeria B1 project and so on.

Nuclear power is gaining wider acceptance on the green canvas of "dual carbon". According to the Blue book of China's Nuclear Energy Development Report (2021), China is expected to have 70 million kW of nuclear power installed by 2025, with 50 million kW under construction. By 2030, the installed capacity of nuclear power in operation will reach 120 million kilowatts, accounting for about 8 percent of China's electricity generation.

The revival of the nuclear power industry will drive up demand for nuclear cables. At the same time, as the "national card" to go global, China's nuclear power "going global" will be a great opportunity for nuclear power equipment suppliers to explore the international market.

There is a kind of courage, called the nettle; There is a verve, called never give in; There is a power called overwhelming. In the pursuit of perfect and extreme nuclear grade cable products on the road, Anhui cable will show these characteristics incisively and vividly. However, this is only the starting point. We will continue to make breakthroughs in more areas and weak links that are subject to the discipline of others. We will make the leap from "self-reliance and self-improvement" to "going global", and help more "instruments of national importance" lift China on its new journey of building a strong country.