Name of the Project
Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) project.

Location
Mersin, Turkey.

Project Owner/s
Akkuyu Nuclear, comprising Inter RAO UES JSC, Rosenergoatom JSC, Atomtechenergo JSC, Atomenergoremont JSC and Rusatom Energy International JSC.

Project Description
The Akkuyu NPP will be based on an NPP-2006 serial project. The 4 800 MWe plant will comprise four VVER1200 reactors and is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey's electricity needs.

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

The primary circuit is radioactive.

It comprises 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 comprises 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.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at $20-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
The commissioning of the first power unit is expected in 2021, with subsequent units to be commissioned every year thereafter.

Latest Developments
The four steam generators for Unit 1 of Akkuyu NPP, each weighing 365 t, have been shipped.  The equipment will travel 3 000 km to the Akkuyu NPP construction site.

Steam generators are critical equipment of the reactor primary circuit.

The generators will be delivered from Atommash to the customer using motorised transport up to the water storage basin of Tsimlyansky port. Thereafter the four steam generators will be loaded on to a barge using a gantry crane, with hoisting capacity of 650 t, and shipped to Turkey by sea.

Meanwhile, the core melt localisation device (CMLD) for Unit 2 of the Akkuyu NPP has been delivered to the construction site. The equipment is the most important part of the unit's passive safety system.

The CMLD is 5.8 m high and 6.1 m in diameter. The 'trap' refers to a container in the form of a steel cone weighing 169 t, which in the event of an emergency will securely hold the melt of the core and will not allow radioactive substances to leave the containment of the reactor.

The installation of the CMLD at Unit 2 is scheduled for November.

Meanwhile, work on the first three units at the Akkuyu site is progressing. The 26-m-high outer walls of the plant building for Unit 1 are expected to be completed this year. In 2021, the reactor vessel will be assembled and, in August, welding of the main circulation pipe will begin. Four steam generators, manufactured by Atommash, are on their way to the site for the unit, and will be followed by the reactor vessel.

Akkuyu Nuclear has said that all stages of the construction work are being closely monitored by independent inspection organisations and Turkey's Nuclear Regulatory Agency, as well as by personnel from international engineering group Assystem.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
GE Steam Power and AAEM Turbine technology, a joint venture between AtomEnergoMash and General Electric, or GE (design and supply the equipment and systems for the whole conventional island) and JSC Tyazhmash (core melt trap).

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.