As the first tank of triuranium octoxide was put into the dissolving tank on March 27, the national key S&T project – production line of fuel element for demonstration project of HTR NPP – has completed by China North Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd., (CNNFC) after 3 years’ efforts, and entered the production stage. It is a key milestone to guarantee the NPP’s first match of fuel and subsequent refueling as well as promote the commercialization of HTR nuclear power technology.

The construction of this production line was commenced by CNNFC in March 2013; the equipment installation and monomer debugging were completed in December 2014; in April 2015, it obtained the permission for input of depleted material from Northern Regional Office of Nuclear and Radiation Safety under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and entered the pre-production stage. Moreover, it has successively completed the conformity identification and assessment of equipment and technology, realized the implementation of the whole production line and produced qualified spherical simulated fuel element; the approval letter for material input for the production line was replied by the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) in March 2016.