Preface
In November 2017, in Paris, the plane trees along the Seine River were covered with leaves in the financial district. In the meeting room of the French Electricity Group, Kevin Lin adjusted his suit and tie and took a group photo in front of the wall full of international brand logos.
The English words “INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CHAIN” on the white wall are witnessing the historical moment when a Chinese private pump company first opened the European nuclear power market. 145 nuclear-grade water pumps with the “KAIQUAN” trademark will be embedded in the core area of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in the UK.
Breaking the ice in the European nuclear power market
Back in 2008, the number of nuclear power units under construction in China increased in an orderly manner, but the localization rate of key equipment in the nuclear island was less than 15%.
Kaiquan, which had just invested in building a new base in Hefei at that time, was facing the “ceiling dilemma” common to all Chinese manufacturing companies. It has been the market leader in the civilian pump market for many years, but has always been excluded from high-end fields such as nuclear power and military industry by international giants.
“Nuclear pump technology is a high ground that must be conquered.” Lin Kaiwen made the decision at the board meeting. Behind this decision, there is not only a prediction of the trillion-dollar nuclear power market, but also the technical anxiety of a national manufacturing company.
The real battle starts with a license.
In order to obtain the “Civilian Nuclear Safety Equipment Design and Manufacturing License”, Kaiquan not only invested 25 million yuan to build a nuclear pump test center equipped with an extreme temperature change test system. It also took four years to reconstruct the entire quality system.
When the qualification certificate was finally issued in 2011, the company had established full-process control capabilities that met the requirements of the “Nuclear Safety Law”.
Strict nuclear grade standards
In the nuclear power industry, there is a cruel “100-1=0” rule: 99 out of 100 processes are perfect, and 1 defect means the entire project is back to zero.
Kaiquan’s nuclear power quality manager still remembers that in a nuclear power project bidding many years ago, the customer had certain requirements for welding methods. Kaiquan strictly selected “socket welding” in accordance with the nuclear pump standard. This type of welding requires ray carbon burning, which is very complicated and cumbersome from process to inspection. The customer was very strict during acceptance, and finally found that among the major manufacturers, only Kaiquan used the standard “socket welding” technology. Strict adherence to standards and uncompromising principles allowed Kaiquan to successfully win the order.
This strict nuclear grade standard gradually formed a technical feedback effect. When the nuclear power quality assurance system penetrated into the civilian product line, the reliability and R&D efficiency of Kaiquan’s conventional pumps were significantly improved. Establish a new market competition barrier for the company.
Kaiquan breaks through technical barriers
Today, the important pumps for the second and third stages and conventional islands of nuclear power plants designed and manufactured by Kaiquan have been applied to nuclear power plants of various technical reactor types at home and abroad. Including Sanmen, Haiyang, National Nuclear Demonstration, Fuqing, Hainan Changjiang, Fangchenggang, Taipingling, Pakistan Chashma, Pakistan Karachi, Tianwan, Xudabao, etc. In 2022, Kaiquan broke through the technical barriers of the “Guohe No. 1” CAP1400/CAP100 series main feed water pumps and completed the delivery task of the million-kilowatt nuclear power main feed water pump group.
From nothing to something, from weak to strong. Kaiquan has successfully broken through the ice of the international nuclear power supply chain with a technical long march of more than ten years. The barriers of technical blockade will eventually become history, and the story of the wall breaker continues.
