Nuclear power plant regulator pilot-operated safety valves are critical to the safe operation of reactors and are recognized as the most difficult equipment for localization in nuclear-grade valves. On April 11, the prototype of the Hualong No. 1 regulator pilot safety valve independently developed by China Nuclear Power Research and Design Institute of China National Nuclear Corporation successfully completed the full-discharge thermal performance test, and the performance reached the latest technical requirements of the third-generation nuclear power. This means that China has successfully broken foreign monopolies, broke through the key bottlenecks of nuclear power, and further enhanced the core competitiveness of “going out”.
On the day of the acceptance meeting, the experts agreed that after the safety valve was successfully developed, not only could the first-stage safety valve of the first-line coolant system be localized, but the core technology could be the waste heat removal system, chemical and volume control system.
It is understood that at present, all the nuclear power plants in service and under construction in China are all relying on imported regulators. The foreign regulators for the nuclear power unit export projects in China also implement a lock-up policy. The Hualong No. 1 regulator pilot-operated safety valve is a valve block system consisting of a plurality of valves, such as a pilot valve, a main valve, and a solenoid valve. At the beginning of the project, the RD team determined that all technologies have independent intellectual property rights and zero parts/components to achieve full self-supply goals, ensuring 100% localization of equipment and no longer being restricted by others in international competition.
