RUSSIAN-TURKISH NUCLEAR

ROSATOM - On December 10, 2017, the construction start ceremony took place at the Akkuyu NPP site under a limited construction licence issued by the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK). Director General of the ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev, and First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Turkish Republic, Fatih Donmez, took part in the ceremony.

Concrete-proofing the foundation of the 'nuclear island' is an important stage in the preparatory works. Under the limited construction licence, construction and assembly works are being carried out at all of the NPP's components excluding buildings and constructions linked to the nuclear island's safety.

'Local inhabitants are present at today's ceremony, and, on this occasion, I'd like to say, 'Thank you.' Rosatom made the decision to create the Akkuyu NPP Public Council for an ongoing dialogue and joint participation in the implementation of the project. We have nearly 100 years of cooperation ahead of us while the Akkuyu NPP will be providing Turkey with clean electric power,' Alexey Likhachev said.

On December 2, the preparation of foundation plate's basis of Unit 1's reactor building was completed. A Turkish company was involved in the works, which completed them on schedule. In addition to construction works, environmental monitoring activities are being carried out at the site, where seismological and meteorological parameters and the condition of underground waters are being tracked on a regular basis.

All construction works at the Akkuyu NPP are being carried out according to Turkish legislation, with the immediate involvement and approval of TAEK. The project's implementation opens up significant opportunities for Turkish suppliers. According to preliminary estimates, the Turkish side could carry out 35-40% of all construction works at the Akkuyu NPP, amounting to $6-8 billion. More than 350 Turkish companies have applied to be included in the official suppliers list for preparing the NPP's infrastructure. At the moment, the onsite personnel numbers more than 300 people, 90% of whom are Turkish citizens from the nearby regions of Büyükeceli, Silifke, Taşucu and Aydıncık. Highly-qualified specialists of engineering and technology services from Turkish companies involved in the construction of some of Turkey's largest energy and industrial facilities were invited to work on the project.

In March 2018, Akkuyu Nuclear JSC in planning to obtain a construction licence, after which the concrete-pouring at of the foundation plate will take place, which will be the official construction start of Unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP ('first conrete' pouring).

For reference

The project of Turkey's first NPP construction is being implemented on the basis of the intergovernmental agreement between the Russian Federation and the Turkish Republic that was signed in May 2010. On October 13, 2011, TAEK handed over to Akkuyu Nuclear JSC a licence for the site; in November 2013, it approved the revised Foundational Report on the site performed by Akkuyu Nuclear JSC under the site licence terms for the construction of the Akkuyu NPP with an installed capacity of 4,800 MWe. On December 1, 2014, the Turkish Ministry of the Environment and City Planning approved the Akkuyu NPP environment impact assessment performed by Akkuyu Nuclear JSC. On February 9, 2017, TAEK approved the Akkuyu NPP site parameters, after which, on March 3, 2017, TAEK received a construction licence application. On October 19, 2017, Akkuyu Nuclear JSC received a limited construction licence from TAEK, which is the first step towards obtaining an NPP construction licence.

The limited construction licence allows establishing the construction pit for Unit 1 up until reaching the theoretical height, establishing the base of the foundation plate for Unit 1's main and auxiliary buildings, vertical planning of the site, filling the Akkuyu bay up to the 10.5 meter mark, constructing the West and East cargo terminals, building the east and south drainage canals, building temporary constructions, the fire depot, fire-fighting water reservoirs and the fire-fighting pump station.

Akkuyu Nuclear JSC is a company created in 2010 for the implementation of the Akkuyu NPP construction project in southern Turkey, in the Mersin province. The VVER-1200 power units of the Akkuyu NPP are among the most modern Generation 3+ technologies with enhanced safety systems that comply with all existing regulations. It is a Russian serial design NPP project based on the Novovoronezh-2 NPP project in Russia, the first unit of which was commissioned on August 5, 2016. Upon completion, the Akkuyu NPP will be producing ca. 35 billion kWh a year. Its operational lifetime will be a minimum of 60 years.

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