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 and 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 feedwater and separators – steam superheaters – with unregulated steam extraction for the NPP’s auxiliary needs and for heating chemically treated water additives in the circuit.

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

Planned Start/End Date
Construction of the first unit began in 2018, with startup planned for 2023.

Construction of Unit 2 started in April 2020.

Latest Developments
AtomEnergoMash is manufacturing the reactor pressure vessel for Turkey's new Akkuyu 3 reactor.

The elliptical bottom of the reactor vessel for a VVER-1200 unit is made in several stages from a seamless forged billet in the form of a six-metre-long tube, with an outer diameter of 2.5 m, and weighing 96 t.

Workers execute a series of cuts in the 300-mm-thick metal according to guides placed inside the piece using cutting torches that burn natural gas and oxygen. AtomEnergoMash has said that improvements to hand-held cutting tools have reduced the time of some jobs by 75%, with cutting being four times faster.

The metal workpiece is then sent to a thermal furnace for annealing to restore its strength. It is held in an oven for five hours at 620 °C.

After the control measures, the final stage in manufacturing is heat-pressing, where the pipe will first be unbent and then stamped.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Contracts
Rosatom (construction of VVER-1200 reactors under a build, own, operate model).

GE Steam Power and AEM 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.