Name and Location
Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) project, Mersin, Turkey.

Client
Shareholders in Akkuyu NPP are Rosenergoatom (93%), INTER RAO UES (3.5%) Atomstroyexport (3.5%), with JSC Atomenergomont and JSC Atomtechenergo each holding 0.1%. Eventually, up to 49% of shares may be transferred to other investors.

Project Description
The Akkuyu NPP will be based on an NPP-2006 serial project, based on the Novovoronezh NPP-2, in Russia’s Voronezh region, and will comprise four units of 1 200 MW each, producing about 35-billion kilowatt-hours a year.

The power unit includes a reactor plant and a turbine plant.

The primary circuit is radioactive.

It consists of a reactor, four reactor coolant loops, four reactor coolant pumps, heating parts of four steam generators and one steam pressuriser.

The secondary circuit is not radioactive. It consists of steam generators; fresh steam conduits; one turbine unit, comprising a turbine plant and a turbine generator; condensate pumps; a system of low-pressure regenerative heaters; a turbine condensate system; deaerators; a feedwater system, including feedwater pumps; and a system of high-pressure regenerative heaters.

The turbine is equipped with a condensing unit, regenerative installation for heating the feed water and separators – steam superheaters – with unregulated steam extraction for the NPP’s auxiliary needs and for heating of chemically treated water additives in the circuit.

Value
The project is estimated at $20-billion.

Duration
The commissioning of the first power unit is expected in 2021, with subsequent units to be commissioned every year thereafter.

Latest Developments
Akkuyu NPP submitted an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) for the project in July 2013, but had to send a revised version, with an additional 2000 pages, in April this year. The revision was in response to feedback from a special commission established to review the EIA report. The commission met last October and received comments and recommendations from numerous organisations and institutions.

The document has now been found "to be consistent with the special format of the Turkish EIA legislation and has been agreed upon", Akkuyu NPP has said.

The 5 500-page report investigates the potential impact of the planned nuclear power plant on the environment and specific areas of activity, including agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, localisation of production and fishing, beside others. Independent consultants and other experts in ecology and in the design, licensing and construction of nuclear power plants in Europe and Asia contributed to the report.

Akkuyu NPP will now focus on obtaining all the necessary licences, permits and agreements in accordance with Turkey's legislative and regulatory requirements for construction of the plant to begin. Site permitting is expected, following changes to Turkish laws governing coastal areas and the growing of olives. This will be followed by a provisional licence for electricity generation, the signing of a construction licence and the award of a building and maritime and coastal areas permit.

Construction work is currently expected to begin on the first of Akkuyu's four 1 200 MWe Gidropress-designed AES-2006 VVER pressurised water reactors in 2015 or 2016. The plant is being financed by Russia under a build, own, operate model, under an intergovernmental agreement signed by Turkey and Russia in 2010.

The review of the EIA is expected to be complete in November, and once a construction licence is issued some construction will start in April 2015. The company expects to commission the first unit in 2021, although in March 2014 the Turkish energy Minister said he expected it to be operational in 2019.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Akkuyu NPP JSC, tel +90 312 442 60 00, fax +90 312 442 60 16 or email office@akkunpp.com.