Turbine installation completed at Unit 1 of Akkuyu NPP in Turkey

Installation of a turbine has been completed at Unit 1 of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) in Turkey. This was reported on December 12 in the press service of the media center of the nuclear industry.

It is noted that the visit to the site of Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar and General Director of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev was timed to the completion of the turbine installation.

The media center specified that during the event, Director General of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC Sergey Butskikh reported on the main stages of the project implementation. He spoke about the commissioning of the first power unit, the degree of readiness of auxiliary facilities, the main construction and installation operations and plans for 2025. In addition, Butskikh reported on the fulfillment of the key operation in Unit 1 - putting the turbine unit on the shaft turning device.

The publication noted that the turbine shaft started its rotation at low speeds for the first time. The quality of the turbine unit assembly was confirmed by experts after checking the correct alignment of all its elements.

"Today we witnessed one of the key events at the site - the completion of the turbine assembly. This is a necessary step on the long road to the start-up of the power unit. We will continue to make every effort to ensure that the first nuclear power unit in Turkey will start working in the near future," the media center quoted Likhachev as saying.

The press service specified that the turbine will be ready for pre-launch operations after testing the system of hermetic enclosures and safety systems.

Earlier, on October 9, Anton Dedusenko, head of the board of directors of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, said that full-scale works have started before the start-up of the power unit No. 1 of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey, which is being built under the project of Rosatom. The Akkuyu Nuclear chairman emphasized that the construction of the three remaining units of the NPP is in full swing. According to him, more than 34,000 people are involved at the site.

Prior to that, on October 7, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia is studying the possibility of building a second nuclear power plant in Turkey at the Sinop site and is preparing optimal solutions for the project. Novak also said that at the moment the possibilities of realization of power facilities in Indonesia are being studied.

In September, the dome of the outer containment shell, which is an important safety element, was installed at Akkuyu NPP. After concreting, the walls of the containment dome will be 1.5 meters thick. The station is also equipped with an inner shell, which serves as a support for pipelines and a polar crane.

On June 7, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev said that the launch of the first power unit of Akkuyu NPP will take place in 2025. On April 23, Rosatom held a ceremony of shipment of a set of heavy equipment from the Russian plant Atommash for the third power unit of the Turkish NPP. At that time, the company specified that the plant is working on the production of key equipment for the fourth power unit. Also in April, Akkuyu NPP Unit 1 started full-scale commissioning works.