In the construction of various fields such as shipping, nuclear power, and military industry, there is an essential "small part" called a sealing component. Especially for large nuclear power plants, it is a key component of level one nuclear safety equipment and an important guarantee to prevent the leakage of radioactive materials. This small sealing component has been monopolized by American companies for more than half a century, and a team has been working hard to have China's own sealing components.

It was under the leadership of Li Xinggen that this private enterprise with less than a hundred people made China the second country in the world capable of producing C-shaped sealing rings through painstaking research and development, breaking the foreign monopoly that lasted for half a century. The motivation for him to take on this mission dates back to a bidding competition with the United States at the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station ten years ago. In a bidding held in July 2007, although Ningbo Tian Sheng Sealing Components Co., Ltd. won the bid with a significant advantage of 20 points over the American company, the U.S. threatened to change the bid result by not providing "C-shaped sealing rings." At that time, no Chinese company could produce nuclear sealing rings, and if the U.S. refused to supply them as a threat, it would undoubtedly be a fatal blow to China's nuclear power plants.

In desperation, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station had to decide to purchase sealing gasket products from both Chinese and American companies simultaneously. Hearing this news deeply pained Li Xinggen, and he quickly responded. Senior engineer Li Xinggen of Ningbo Tian Sheng Sealing Components Co., Ltd.: I assure you that within five years, I will conquer this sealing ring, I will do whatever it takes to conquer it. The pressure vessel for placing nuclear fuel in the nuclear reactor has a diameter of over 4 meters, and the vessel is divided into two parts: the cylinder and the end cover, with two metal sealing rings used for sealing at the joint. When the reactor is in operation, the nuclear fuel inside the vessel generates high pressure and high temperature, causing a tendency for separation at the joint between the end cover and the cylinder. At this time, the metal sealing ring with memory function needs to rebound to compensate for this separation, thus achieving the sealing function and preventing nuclear leakage.

The manufacturing process of the metal sealing ring had been kept secret by Americans for half a century. The deeply painful experience also became the motivation for Li Xinggen and his research and development team; they aimed to challenge the sealing ring technology that had been blocked for more than half a century from scratch. In the factory upstairs, the four-meter diameter C-shaped sealing ring has just been produced. Workers are making the final adjustments to its shape. Li Xinggen said that when the first nuclear sealing ring was born in a Chinese company, the entire domestic nuclear power industry was shaken. Li Xinggen: Because previously, foreign companies would raise prices by 15% every year without negotiation, and they would decide the timing of delivery without informing you. Now that they hear we have domestic production, they are also very excited.

On December 3, 2015, the first domestically produced metal C-shaped sealing ring was installed on the pressure vessel of the reactor of Unit 1 at the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station. On September 18, 2016, it entered the refueling shutdown for post-service inspection. Success or failure depended on this moment. In the presence of a group of experts from the National Energy Administration and China National Nuclear Corporation, the pressure vessel of the reactor at the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station was slowly opened. After one cycle of use, the inner and outer rings of the domestically produced metal C-shaped sealing ring showed no damage, the sealing line was uniform and continuous, and there were no wrinkles or bulges. Six hours later, the expert group announced: it meets the safety standards for nuclear power plants. Li Xinggen finally breathed a sigh of relief. Li Xinggen: I have only made two things in my life, one is pipeline sealing, and the other is pressure vessel sealing. I have spent more than thirty years on this.

Li Xinggen spent more than thirty years obtaining new technologies, new products, and applications for nuclear power station sealing, winning the National Science and Technology Progress Second Prize. This innovative achievement broke the foreign monopoly and reduced the price of similar foreign products by 70%. Currently, 70% of the equipment at China's Guangdong Nuclear Power Base, Lianyungang Nuclear Power Base, and Qinshan Nuclear Power Base uses domestically produced sealing components.