Qinshan nuclear power plant

Qinshan nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in China with 7 operating units totalling 4,504 MW gross. The site has 7 units on record in total.

Operating2circle area ∝ site capacity Coastlines, borders and lakes: Natural Earth (1:10 million, public domain), which is generalised, so a coastal plant can sit a couple of kilometres off its true shoreline. Site positions: Global Nuclear Power Tracker.

Units on record

Operating

Operating capacity

4,504MW

Country

China

Units

Unit	Status	Type	Model	Gross MW	Online
Unit 1-1	Operating	PWR	CNP-300	330	1994
Unit 2-1	Operating	PWR	CNP-600	670	2002
Unit 2-2	Operating	PWR	CNP-600	708	2004
Unit 2-3	Operating	PWR	CNP-600	670	2010
Unit 2-4	Operating	PWR	CNP-600	670	2011
Unit 3-1	Operating	PHWR	CANDU 6	728	2002
Unit 3-2	Operating	PHWR	CANDU 6	728	2003

Unit by unit

Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.

Qinshan nuclear power plant 1-1 Operating

Reactor type	Pressurised water reactor (PWR)
Model	CNP-300
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	330MW
Net capacity	326MW
Thermal output	966MWt
Enrichment	3–5% U-235
NSSS vendor	China National Nuclear Corporation
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Qinshan Nuclear Power

Construction start	20 Mar 1985
First criticality	31 Oct 1991
Grid connection	15 Dec 1991
Commercial operation	1 Apr 1994

Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-1 Operating

Reactor type	Pressurised water reactor (PWR)
Model	CNP-600
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	670MW
Net capacity	623MW
Thermal output	1,930MWt
Enrichment	3–5% U-235
NSSS vendor	China National Nuclear Corporation
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture

Construction start	2 Jun 1996
First criticality	15 Nov 2001
Grid connection	6 Feb 2002
Commercial operation	15 Apr 2002

Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-2 Operating

Reactor type	Pressurised water reactor (PWR)
Model	CNP-600
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	708MW
Net capacity	623MW
Thermal output	1,930MWt
Enrichment	3–5% U-235
NSSS vendor	China National Nuclear Corporation
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture

Construction start	1 Apr 1997
First criticality	25 Feb 2004
Grid connection	11 Mar 2004
Commercial operation	3 May 2004

Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-3 Operating

Reactor type	Pressurised water reactor (PWR)
Model	CNP-600
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	670MW
Net capacity	623MW
Thermal output	1,930MWt
Enrichment	3–5% U-235
NSSS vendor	China National Nuclear Corporation
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture

Construction start	28 Apr 2006
First criticality	13 Jul 2010
Grid connection	1 Aug 2010
Commercial operation	5 Oct 2010

Qinshan nuclear power plant 2-4 Operating

Reactor type	Pressurised water reactor (PWR)
Model	CNP-600
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	670MW
Net capacity	623MW
Thermal output	1,930MWt
Enrichment	3–5% U-235
NSSS vendor	China National Nuclear Corporation
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture

Construction start	28 Jan 2007
First criticality	17 Nov 2011
Grid connection	25 Nov 2011
Commercial operation	30 Dec 2011

Qinshan nuclear power plant 3-1 Operating

Corrected against a later source

GNPT types the unit as a pressurized water reactor, but its model is the CANDU 6, a pressurized heavy water reactor. The World Nuclear Association reactor database lists Qinshan 3-1 as a PHWR, model CANDU 6, 728 MWe gross, in commercial operation from 31 December 2002. The fuel family follows the type: a CANDU 6 takes natural uranium fuel bundles, not PWR assemblies. GNPT already gives the PHWR fuel family.

reactor_type: ~~pwr~~ → phwr · World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Reactor Database, Qinshan 3-1 · verified 2026-10-22

Reactor type	Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR)
Model	CANDU 6
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	728MW
Net capacity	677MW
Thermal output	2,064MWt
Enrichment	Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235no enrichment required
NSSS vendor	AtkinsRéalis (Candu Energy)
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Third Qinshan Nuclear Power

Construction start	8 Jun 1998
First criticality	21 Sep 2002
Grid connection	19 Nov 2002
Commercial operation	31 Dec 2002

Qinshan nuclear power plant 3-2 Operating

Corrected against a later source

GNPT types the unit as a pressurized water reactor, but its model is the CANDU 6, a pressurized heavy water reactor. The World Nuclear Association reactor database lists Qinshan 3-2 as a PHWR, model CANDU 6, 728 MWe gross, in commercial operation from 24 July 2003. The fuel family follows the type: a CANDU 6 takes natural uranium fuel bundles, not PWR assemblies. GNPT already gives the PHWR fuel family.

reactor_type: ~~pwr~~ → phwr · World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Reactor Database, Qinshan 3-2 · verified 2026-10-22

Reactor type	Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR)
Model	CANDU 6
Size class	Large
Gross capacity	728MW
Net capacity	677MW
Thermal output	2,064MWt
Enrichment	Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235no enrichment required
NSSS vendor	AtkinsRéalis (Candu Energy)
Owner	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd100%
Operator	Third Qinshan Nuclear Power

Construction start	25 Sep 1998
First criticality	18 Jan 2003
Grid connection	12 Jun 2003
Commercial operation	24 Jul 2003

Qinshan nuclear power plant in context

By gross operating capacity Qinshan nuclear power plant is the 6th largest of 18 operating nuclear sites in China, holding 7% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 15th of 172 worldwide.

Its operating units started up between 1994 and 2011; the median unit is 23.0 years old, older than the median of 10.0 in China.

The 7 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 4.3 to 6.9 years (median 4.8) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 2000s is 6.8 years.

The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Fangjiashan nuclear power plant (0 km), Sanmen nuclear power plant (163 km) and Jinqimen nuclear power plant (182 km).

5 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit 1-1 +12.8%, Unit 2-1 +2.1%, Unit 2-2 +2.1%, Unit 2-3 +2.1% and Unit 2-4 +2.1%.

Build time by unit

Unit	Construction start	Grid connection	Years	Fleet median, same decade
Unit 1-1	1985	1991	6.7	8.0 (1990s)
Unit 2-1	1996	2002	5.7	6.8 (2000s)
Unit 3-1	1998	2002	4.4	6.8 (2000s)
Unit 3-2	1998	2003	4.7	6.8 (2000s)
Unit 2-2	1997	2004	6.9	6.8 (2000s)
Unit 2-3	2006	2010	4.3	5.9 (2010s)
Unit 2-4	2007	2011	4.8	5.9 (2010s)

Nearest tracked nuclear sites

Site	Country	Distance	Operating GW gross
Fangjiashan nuclear power plant	China	0 km	2.2
Sanmen nuclear power plant	China	163 km	2.5
Jinqimen nuclear power plant	China	182 km	-

How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.

Earthquakes nearby

Loading the latest USGS check…

Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Qinshan nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.

Site detail

Location	Qinshan, Zhejiang, China
Coordinates	30.4417, 120.9415
Elevation	about 40 mabove sea level
Setting	On the sea coast, 0.9 km from the water
Region	Eastern Asia
Units by status	Operating: 7

Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.

Owners & operators

Owners	China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd
Operators	Qinshan Nuclear Power Nuclear Power Qinshan Joint Venture Third Qinshan Nuclear Power

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Sources

Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted

How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data