Sanmen Nuclear Power Station
nuclear power station in Sanmen County, China
The Sanmen Nuclear Power Station (Chinese: 三门核电站) is a nuclear power station in Sanmen County, Zhejiang, China. Sanmen is the first implementation of the AP1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) developed by Westinghouse Electric Company.
History
The contract for the plant was agreed in July 2007.
Announcement of the project start came roughly twelve months after Westinghouse won a bidding contest over other companies. The contract for the new plant involved The Shaw Group (now part of Westinghouse), a minority shareholder in Westinghouse. Westinghouse was controlled by Japanese Toshiba. The Shaw Group did provide engineering, procurement, commissioning, information management and project management services.
The first pair of reactors were estimated to cost CNY 32.4 billion yuan, later estimates in 2013 gave figures of CNY 40.1 billion (US$6.12 billion). The final sum was CNY 10 billion higher.
Groundbreaking for the first and second units was held 26 February 2008.
The public source identifies “Sanmen Nuclear Power Station” as nuclear power station in Sanmen County, China. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sanmen, Nuclear and Power.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sanmen Nuclear Power Station”, the useful work is to connect “nuclear power station in Sanmen County, China” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1029398. The first chronological checks are 2007, 2013 and 2008.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sanmen Nuclear Power Station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sanmen Nuclear Power Station primary sources, Sanmen Nuclear Power Station archive and Sanmen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sanmen Nuclear Power Station”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sanmen Nuclear Power Station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.