The Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant in East China's Shandong Province installed with the high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (HTGR) entered commercial service following a 168-hour trial, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

It is the world's first 4th generation nuclear power plant which uses China's fully independent intellectual property rights, reflecting the nation's global leading position in the 4th generation nuclear power technology, according to the report.

The HTGR is the globally recognized advancing nuclear reactor, and represents the future direction of the nuclear power industry, said Zhang Zuoyi, chief designer of the project, adding that the HTGR will be safe even in the absence of all cooling capabilities and without taking any intervention measures, and accidents such as reactor core meltdown or radioactive material release will not happen.

According to the China National Nuclear Corporation, one of the facility's contractors, the Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant has a capacity of 200,000 kilowatts, started construction in December 2012 in Rongcheng, Shandong Province, and was first linked to power grid in December 2021.

The power plant was the collaborative effort of more than 500 companies across the industrial chain including design, research and development, construction, devices manufacturing, and operation management, with the domestication rate of equipment exceeding 90 percent.

Based on the construction project of Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant, China Huaneng Group Co and Tsinghua University, anther two participants, together developed six core technologies specialized with HTGR's adjustment and operation, fostered a group of experienced talents, and formed a duplicatable operation mechanism with independent intellectual property rights.

Experts said the commercial operation of Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant will promote China's nuclear power safe development and the innovation ability in nuclear power related technologies.