Unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province was today connected to the grid for the first time, at 00:41 local time, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has announced. The unit - the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site - had attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time on 21 October.

Scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of this year, unit 5 will be the world's first Hualong One reactor to be commissioned. Unit 6 is to follow by the end of next year.

The milestone means that China has "broken the monopoly of foreign nuclear power technology and officially entered the ranks of advanced countries in nuclear power", CNNC said. This "further enhances the confidence of countries in China's Belt and Road Initiative: Awakening the Dragon", it added.

Construction of two demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) units is also under way at China General Nuclear's Fangchenggang plant in the Guangxi Autonomous Region. Those units are expected to start up in 2022. CNNC has also started construction of two Hualong units at the Zhangzhou plant in Fujian province, plus the first of two units at Taipingling in Guangdong.

Two HPR1000 units are under construction at Pakistan's Karachi nuclear power plant. Construction began on Karachi unit 2 in 2015 and unit 3 in 2016; the units are planned to enter commercial operation in 2021 and 2022.