President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a working visit to the construction site of the country's first Akkuyu nuclear power plant. During the visit, the President was accompanied by Vice President Fuat Oktay, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, Minister of Finance and Treasury Lütfi Elvan and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu.
The official delegation was met at the Akkuyu NPP site by the Ambassador of Russian Federation in Turkey Alexey Yerkhov, CEO of Rosatom State Corporation Alexey Likhachev and CEO of AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC Anastasia Zoteeva.
The President of Turkey examined the progress of the project and met with young Turkish engineers who received their education in Russian universities within the Akkuyu NPP personnel training program.
Construction activities are being carried out simultaneously on the sites of all four power units of the plant.
At the construction areas of power units 1 and 2, the main and auxiliary buildings are already being erected, and equipment is being installed. To date, the molten core catcher, the dry reactor shielding, and the reactor vessel have been installed in the reactor building of power unit 1; reinforcement and concreting of building structures and premises for the installation of steam generators and components of the reactor coolant pipeline (RCP), which will connect the main equipment of the NPP primary circuit, is currently underway.
In early March, President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Erdogan and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin launched the construction of unit 3 of the Akkuyu NPP via videoconference.
At the site of power unit 3, the reinforcement of the foundation slabs has been completed, and the foundation of the reactor compartment and the turbine building has been concreted. At the site of power unit 4, the pit is being developed in accordance with the limited construction permit obtained on June 30, 2021. The package of documentation for obtaining a license for the construction of Unit No. 4 of the Akkuyu NPP is currently under consideration by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency of the Republic of Turkey.
"Cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the field of nuclear technologies is of a strategic nature, and the Akkuyu NPP project is the key one in this area. Today, full-scale construction works have been launched at the site simultaneously at three power units. This is a unique scale for international NPP construction projects. We have set an unprecedented pace for construction, friendly and constructive relations have developed between Russian and Turkish companies in the course of joint work, and all activities are proceeding as scheduled," Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom State Corporation, emphasized.
Akkuyu NPP is a nuclear power plant under construction on the southern coast of Turkey. The NPP is being constructed according to a Russian project, which includes the construction and commissioning of four power units with VVER-1200 type reactors.
The construction project of Turkey’s first Akkuyu NPP is being implemented by AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia and Turkey in May 2010.
After the construction is completed, the NPP with an installed capacity of 4,800 MW will generate about 35 billion kWh per year.