The construction work on the first power unit of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey has been completed, announced the Director General of the Russian state corporation Rosatom Alexey Likhachev during a visit to the plant.
“We note the completion of the construction work. The cold hydraulic tests of the reactor began tonight and within a few weeks this work will be completed. There are literally only a few weeks left until the start-up operations begin“, Likhachev told the TASS agency during his visit to the site in Turkey.
According to him, after the completion of all the work done, a final revision will be made and adjustments will be made to the final stage.
The press service of “Rosatom“ added that Likhachev inspected the central hall of the reactor compartment of the first unit of the plant, where he was reported on the successful completion of the operations to load simulation fuel assemblies into the reactor, as well as the completion of the reactor's operation.
The corporation specified that with the loading of the simulation core, one of the most important stages in the preparation of the reactor installation for cold-hot testing also ends.
In front of the agency, Likhachev compared this moment to “the final sprint of 100 meters in a marathon distance of 42 kilometers“.
“An important aspect of the final sprint is the start of the work of the service personnel“, said Likhachev and specified that the number of personnel at the first unit is 1,930 people, with over 40 percent of these specialists are Turkish citizens.
The Akkuyu NPP is the first nuclear power plant under construction in Turkey. The Akkuyu NPP project consists of four power units with VVER generation 3+ reactors, each with a capacity of 1,200 MW.