New phase of historical project completed at Akkuyu NPP

A new phase has been completed at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), a first in Turkey and built in partnership between Turkiye and Russia. The rotor weighing 255 tons in total was installed on the Turkish-Russian wonder. Making a statement about the historical project, Akkuyu Nuclear Inc. General Manager Sergei Butckikh stated that the rotor assembly was carried out with the help of a bridge crane. The project, which will meet approximately 10 percent of Turkiye's energy needs, stands out as one of the important investments in terms of Turkiye's development goals at a time when the world is struggling with a global energy crisis.

Another critical phase has been completed at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which will meet 10 percent of Turkey’s electricity needs when completed. The mega project, which will meet approximately 10 percent of Turkey’s energy needs with an annual electricity production of 35 billion kilowatt-hours, is one of the important investments in terms of Turkey’s development goals at a time when the world is struggling with a global energy crisis.

The low-pressure rotor of the turbine facility of the first unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which is currently under construction in the Gülnar district of Mersin, has been assembled.

According to the statement of Akkuyu Nuclear Inc., the 255-ton final pressure rotor was placed in the design position.

The assembly of the rotor, which has a total weight of 255 tons, was carried out under the supervision of an engineer representing the equipment manufacturing plant. In the next stage of the turbine installation, experts will ensure that all parts are aligned correctly, and during this process, the equipment parts will be positioned in accordance with each other. Then, experts will place the turbine in the wheel device and check the correctness of the assembly, the correctness of the alignment, and the readiness of the operating systems for hydraulic tests.

The bridge was installed using a crane

Expressing that the assembly process is important for the unit, Akkuyu Nuclear General Manager Sergei Butckikh said the following on the subject:

"The rotor was assembled using a bridge crane. The assembly of the rotor is a technically complex operation requiring high precision. The operation was successfully completed, and all large-sized components of the turbine unit of Unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP were installed in the design position. Before starting to test the turbine plant, we need to adjust the turbine shaft line and ensure the density and tightness of the secondary circuit. These operations involve welding more than 3 thousand connections in various technical structures."

What are the features of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant?

Akkuyu will be our country's first nuclear power plant.

The project consists of 4 units and each unit is designed to have a power of 1200 MWe. In other words, when fully completed, it will be able to produce 4800 MWe.

The technical reference power plant of the Akkuyu NPP Project is the Novovoronejskaya-2 Nuclear Power Plant with the AES-2006 project located in Russia.

The estimated operating life of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant will be 60 years.

The fuel type to be used in Akkuyu is lightly enriched uranium dioxide.

The power plant is located on the seashore and is separated from the surrounding areas by mountains reaching 200 meters, connected to the D400 by a 4.5 km asphalt road.

How many nuclear power plants are there in each country?

While 438 nuclear power plant reactors are currently used in energy production in 30 countries in the world, 42 nuclear power plants are under construction. There are currently 437 active nuclear reactors in 31 countries, while 68 reactors are under construction in 14 countries.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the world's electricity demand is expected to increase by an average of 2.2 percent annually and up to 70 percent in total until 2035. Currently, coal is in first place in electricity production in the world with a share of 40.6 percent, while natural gas comes second with 22.2 percent. Hydraulic energy sources are in third place with a share of 16 percent, and nuclear is in fourth place with 13 percent. According to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the number of nuclear power plants and installed power in the world and the amount of energy countries obtain from nuclear power plants in their total energy production are as follows;

According to the data of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the number of nuclear power plants, the amount of installed power in the world and the amount of energy that countries obtain from nuclear power plants in their total energy production are as follows:

NPP construction in Akkuyu started in 2018

The foundation of the first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction in the Büyükeceli region of Gülnar district of Mersin within the scope of the intergovernmental agreement signed between Turkey and Russia on May 12, 2010, was laid on April 3, 2018, in a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Russian President Vladimir Putin via video conference. Thus, full-scale construction work on the construction of the first unit officially began.

Two years later, on April 8, 2020, work on the project gained momentum with the start of construction of the second unit, while the first concrete for the third power unit was poured with a ceremony on March 10, 2021, and the foundation of the fourth and final unit was laid on July 21, 2022.

The project, where construction and assembly work is carried out simultaneously in all four units, has thus entered its most intensive construction phase. Akkuyu NPP has also become the world's largest nuclear power plant construction site.

Thousands of people, mostly Turkish workers, are working on the project, where work continues unabated throughout the construction site. The number of people working on the construction site reached 30,000 during the busiest period. More than 1,300 machines are working on the construction of the plant, where 140,000 tons of rebar were used and 1.3 million cubic meters of concrete were poured to date.