Power & Operations

Foundation slabs for Akkuyu-2 reactor, turbine buildings completed

September 28, 2020, 3:02PMNuclear News

Concrete pouring for the foundation slabs for the Akkuyu-2 reactor and turbine buildings has been completed, Akkuyu Nuclear has announced. Unit 2 is one of four reactors under construction at the Akkuyu site, located on the Mediterranean coast in southern Turkey.

More than 17,000 cubic meters (about 600,350 cubic feet) of concrete have been poured into the Akkuyu-2 reactor building’s foundation, The company reported on September 23. The area of the concrete slab is 6,864 square meters (about 73,883 square feet), while its height and depth are 2.6 meters (about 8.5 feet) and over 8 meters (over 26 feet), respectively, according to the company.

When all four Akkuyu reactors are in operation, they will generate an estimated 10 percent of Turkey’s electricity. The $20-billion project is the world’s first nuclear power plant to be built using the build-own-operate financing model.

Slab strength: To ensure the maximum strength of the slab, the foundation contains 2,451 tons of rebars, which is an equivalent to a third of the weight of all metal structures of the Eiffel Tower, according to Akkuyu Nuclear. A metal rigid frame is used to keep rebars in their specified position. The weight of the fully operational reactor building is about 470,000 tons. In other words, the foundation will reliably bear the weight that is twice as much as the largest cruise liner in the world, Akkuyu Nuclear noted.

Background: The Russian and Turkish governments signed a cooperation agreement on May 12, 2010, for the construction of the Akkuyu plant. The project involves the construction of four 1,114-MWe Generation III+ VVER pressurized water reactors, model AES-2006. The design is based on the new generation of reactors being built in Russia, the first of which was Novovoronezh II-1. Akkuyu-1 is scheduled for commercial operation in 2023, with Units 2, 3, and 4 to follow in 2024, 2025, and 2026, respectively.

Tags:
akkuyuakkuyu nuclearbuild-own-operategeneration iii+novovoronezhturkeyvver
Share:
LinkedInTwitterFacebookEmail

Related Articles

A focus where it is needed

September 7, 2023, 6:57AMNuclear News

The front end of the fuel cycle is getting a lot of attention lately—and it needs it. The war in Ukraine has disrupted the global supply chain for many products, nuclear fuel being one....

Vogtle-4 fuel load started

August 18, 2023, 12:58PMNuclear News

Georgia Power has begun the process of loading fuel into the Vogtle plant’s Unit 4 reactor, the company announced yesterday, marking another pivotal milestone toward commercial operation of...