Akkuyu is to be Turkey's first nuclear power plant

 The start-up and testing phase of the on-shore pumping station for Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear power plant's first unit has begun.

The pumping units for the main cooling water supply and pumps connected to the back-up diesel power supply are now undergoing load tests, with operating parameters of the equipment being checked, following test runs of the main cooling water pumping units.

The four-unit Akkuyu nuclear plant will be cooled by water from the Mediterranean Sea. There will be one pumping station for each power unit, a drainage channel, siphon wells, a distribution chamber, a water intake and spillway structure and desalination processes. Rosatom says the total capacity in the normal operation of the power unit will be 260,000 cubic metres per hour and that the design "will reliably protect the pumping station equipment from any external factors including floods and tsunamis".

Akkuyu Nuclear JSC CEO Sergei Butckikh said: "Construction and installation works at the pumping station are almost completed ... the nuclear power plant's largest pumps ... will provide water to all the cooling systems of the power unit, that is why stable operation of the pumps is extremely important for the reliable operation of the main equipment, including the reactor plant and the turbine unit. The onshore pumping station is a unique hydraulic engineering structure. The station’s design solution, developed taking into account the advanced safety standards, was successfully implemented thanks to the well-coordinated work of the Turkish-Russian team of designers and builders."

Background

Akkuyu, in the southern Mersin province, is Turkey's first nuclear power plant. Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors, under a so-called BOO (build-own-operate) model. According to the terms of the 2010 Intergovernmental Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, the commissioning of the first power unit of the nuclear power plant must take place within seven years from receipt of all permits for the construction of the unit.

The licence for the construction of the first unit was issued in 2018, with construction work beginning that year. Nuclear fuel was delivered to the site in April 2023. Turkey's Nuclear Regulatory Agency issued permission for the first unit to be commissioned in December, and in February it was announced that the reactor compartment had been prepared for controlled assembly of the reactor - and the generator stator had also been installed in its pre-design position.

The aim is for unit 1 to begin supplying Turkey's energy system in 2025. When the 4800 MWe plant is completed, it is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey's electricity needs, with the aim that all four units will be operational by the end of 2028.