Türkiye’s Akkuyu nuke plant gets greenlight to operate 1st power unit

Turkish authorities have granted permission for the commissioning of the first power-generating unit of the country’s first nuclear power plant, its operator announced Tuesday.

The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is being constructed by Russia’s state atomic energy company Rosatom in Mersin province on the southern Mediterranean coastline.

In a statement, Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, a Rosatom venture building the plant, said it had filed the first batch of documents on March 17 and the second on Aug. 24 to the Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Authority to obtain commissioning authorization.

The permission follows the startup, adjustment and operation processes, which are the final phases of the nuclear plant construction for a safe operation.

“The decision of the Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Authority to issue a permit to commission the first unit of the Akkuyu NPP confirms that we have fulfilled all the requirements of the Turkish legislation and international standards for the construction of nuclear power plants, and are ready to move on,” Anastasia Zoteeva, director general of the project company, Akkuyu Nuclear, was quoted as saying in a Telegram statement by the Russian state atomic energy agency Rosatom.

“We enter a new, important and responsible stage in the project life,” Zoteeva said.

The latest move, she said, is the beginning of “a new, important and responsible stage in the life of the project,” Zoteeva said,

The next stage will be the receipt of a license to operate the first power-generating unit, making it possible to load nuclear fuel into the reactor and begin pre-commissioning testing operations.

“Currently, Akkuyu Nuclear specialists continue to develop technical documentation for filing an application for a license,” the statement added.

Türkiye gained the status of a country boasting nuclear energy, as the Akkuyu NPP received the initial batch of nuclear fuel in April this year.

Türkiye and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement in 2010 to build the plant. Akkuyu will comprise four Russian-designed VVER generation-three reactors with 1,200 megawatts (MW) capacity each.

The foundation of the first reactor was laid in April 2018, while the construction of the second, third and fourth units started in June 2020, March 2021 and June 2022, respectively.

The commissioning of the first reactor is expected next year, and will ultimately have a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

The plant will be fully operational by 2028 and supply 10% of Türkiye’s electricity consumption.

Akkuyu is the world’s first NPP project implemented through a build-own-operate model. Under the long-term contract, Rosatom has agreed to provide the power plant’s design, construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning.

The firm holds a 99.2% stake in the project estimated to cost around $20 billion (TL 580.92 billion) marking it the biggest investment in Türkiye’s history implemented in a single site.

The plant is part of Türkiye’s ambitious plan to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2053 as it strives to become a carbon-neutral economy.

The country’s ultimate goal is to increase electricity production capacity from nuclear energy to 20 gigawatts, nearly four times what the Akkuyu plant could generate.

To achieve this, the minister said Türkiye may need an additional 5 gigawatts of capacity from small nuclear reactors, known as SMRs.

Türkiye has been holding talks with several countries, including Russia, about building a second power plant in the Black Sea city of Sinop.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar in mid-September said Türkiye was in talks with China to build the country’s third nuclear plant in Kırklareli province in the Thrace region.

Bayraktar said they hoped to finalize discussions and strike a deal on the construction of the plant soon.