Peng Shilu was born on November 18, 1925 in Haifeng County, Guangdong province, the son of Peng Pai, a top Chinese Communist revolutionary in the 1920s. His parents were killed by the Kuomintang government when he was less than 4 years old, and he was jailed at the age of 8 for being the son of Peng Pai. He was later rescued by his grandmother and sent to Yan'an by Zhou Enlai. In the 1940s he received his early training in Yan'an Institute of Natural Sciences. After 1949, he went to the Soviet Union to complete advanced studies in nuclear science at Moscow Power Engineering Institute. When he returned to China, he was appointed to a senior post conducting research on the submarine nuclear reactor. In 1959, the Soviet Union refused to provide assistance for China's planned project of building nuclear-powered submarines, and Mao Zedong proclaimed that China would build its own nuclear submarines "even if it takes 10,000 years". Peng oversaw the entire nuclear submarine project and set about developing a workable nuclear power plant. In 1968, Peng proposed and led the building of a land-based prototype nuclear power reactor in Sichuan province for China's first nuclear submarine. This reactor was completed on April 1970 and successfully passed a test in July after Peng reported to the Central Special Commission led by Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1973, Peng was appointed vice president of China Ship Research and Design Institute, and afterwards became vice minister of the Sixth Ministry of Machine Building. China's first nuclear submarine, the Long March I of class 091, was commissioned in 1974, making China the fifth country to own a nuclear submarine after the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. The first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine of class 092 was completed and commissioned in 1981. Both type 091 and 092 submarines were equipped with the nuclear reactors and propulsion systems created by Peng and his team. In 1979, Peng was appointed the first chief designer of China's nuclear submarine project, while Huang Xuhua, Zhao Renkai, and Huang Weilu were appointed as deputies. In 1983, Peng shifted from military to civilian application of nuclear power plants when he was appointed as vice minister for the Ministry of Hydropower, and was also appointed general engineer in the Ministry of Nuclear Industry. He led his team to build the Daya Bay and Qinshan Nuclear Power Plants.
