China General Nuclear (CGN) completed initial fuel loading at unit 2 of the San'ao nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province on November 2, moving the Hualong One reactor into nuclear commissioning ahead of its planned startup. The unit is scheduled to begin supplying electricity in 2027, which will finish the two-unit first phase of the six-reactor site.

Operators loaded 177 fuel assemblies from the spent fuel pool racks into the core using a refueling machine programmed with the loading sequence and an underwater floating light gun developed by CGN. The unit finished cold functional tests — which verify that safety-important systems and components are properly installed and ready to operate in a cold condition — in October 2025, followed by hot functional tests at operating temperatures and pressures in April 2026.

China's State Council approved units 1 and 2 on September 2, 2020, and the National Nuclear Safety Administration issued their construction permit on December 30 that year. First concrete for unit 2 was poured on December 30, 2021, a year after unit 1. Unit 1 reached first criticality in February 2026, connected to the grid in March and entered commercial operation on April 29.

San'ao is the first nuclear project in the Yangtze River Delta region to use the HPR1000, or Hualong One, design. The State Council approved units 3 and 4 in August 2024 as part of a batch of 11 reactors, and first concrete for the nuclear island of unit 3 followed on December 19, 2025. Two further Hualong One units are planned as units 5 and 6. Once complete, the whole project will generate more than 54 terawatt-hours of electricity a year, according to CGN.

The plant is the first Chinese nuclear power project to include private capital. CGN holds 46% of the project company, Cangnan Nuclear Power, private firm Geely Technology Group holds 2%, and other state-owned enterprises own the rest.