Dayawan Nuclear Plant Base

Dayawan Nuclear Plant, located in Guangzhou Province near Hong Kong and Shenzhen, is owned/operated by Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd. The largest nuclear power base in China (6000 MW), Dayawan has six pressurized water reactor generating units (some still under construction) using Areva technology. Its later units have increasingly local content. Its large capacity and long startup time led to the simultaneous building of the pumped storage Conghua Hydraulic plant for reliability and load smoothing reasons (elaborated on more below).

Located along one of the most photogenic coastal areas of China, the power base is an example of the government’s increasing use of PR in the PRC. During construction in the 1990s, huge protests in Hong Kong spurred the hiring of a public relations firm. The site now hosts several waterfront pavilions and a visitor’s center with placards explaining nuclear technology and “Why Chernobyl won’t happen here.”