CHINA'S FUSION POWER

WNN - A research centre to support China's push for nuclear fusion power has been approved. It will be able to test large superconducting magnets and filters under operational conditions. The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that having an integrated research facility for key systems of fusion reactors is "one of the major scientific engineering projects" in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan.

Scientific goals for the project include studying plasma behaviour under the boundary parameters of magnetic constrained fusion and exploring the effects of complex dynamic loads on critical systems and components. It will evaluate the service performance of filters and superconducting magnets under load conditions.

China aims to construct a tokamak fusion reactor, known as the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor, and launch its operation in 2030. It would be smaller than the international Iter project, yet comparable in performance in that some modes of operation would produce up to 10 times the heat required to initiate fusion. It is hoped that these large experiments will yield the knowledge required to create fusion power plants in around 2050.

Site selection, social risk assessment and environmental impact studies have all been carried out and approved, the Chinese Academy of Science said. The project awaits only a final investment budget for construction to begin. Site preparation has been under way since 14 December last year.

The facility will be built in Lyuang district in the north west of Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui province, which itself is about 400 km west of Shanghai. It will be jointly built by the Chinese Academy of Science and the government of Anhui province.

----- 

Earlier: 

2019, March, 29, 10:50:00 FRANCE, CHINA NUCLEAR Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed common goals for nuclear power and the fight against climate change in bilateral talks held on 25 March during Xi’s three-day state visit to France. Macron's statement specifically mentioned the long-awaited project for cooperation to build a plant to reprocess China's used nuclear fuel.

2019, March, 27, 11:50:00 SAUDI'S OIL FOR CHINA UP 28.5% China's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia surged 28.5% year on year to 1.56 million b/d in February, surpassing Russia to become the top crude supplier in the month, latest data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

2019, March, 27, 11:45:00 VENEZUELA'S OIL FOR CHINA WILL DOWN PetroChina Ltd, the listed subsidiary of state-owned CNPC, expects its crude imports from Venezuela to drop by about a third to around 10 million mt (about 186,000 b/d) in 2019 from 15 million mt in 2018, a senior executive said

2019, March, 15, 10:15:00 U.S. LNG FOR CHINA DOWN Only one liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel that left the United States in 2019 went to China, Reuters shipping data show, as the eight-month trade war between the two nations starts to cool.

2019, March, 15, 09:40:00 RUSSIA, CHINA NUCLEAR The general contract has been signed for the construction of two further Russian-supplied reactors at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province. In addition, a technical design contract was signed for a second pair of reactors at the Xudabao site in Liaoning province.

2019, February, 25, 12:00:00 CHINA'S LNG IMPORTS UP AGAIN REUTERS - China’s liquefied natural gas imports in January rose to a record as an increase in residential heating demand during the winter after the country’s shift to gas heating spurred higher shipments, customs data showed on Saturday.

2019, February, 6, 10:30:00 MOZAMBIQUE LNG FOR CHINA PLATTS - US-based Anadarko Petroleum has agreed to sell 1.5 million mt/year of LNG from its planned 12.9 million mt/year Mozambique LNG project to China's CNOOC for a period of 13 years.