Reactor pressure vessel for Akkuyu-1 shipped, steam generators delivered
The reactor pressure vessel for Akkuyu-1. Photo: Rosatom
Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, announced last week that the reactor pressure vessel for Unit 1 of Turkey’s Akkuyu plant has been shipped from the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk, Russia. Also, the four steam generators for the reactor have arrived at the Vostochny Cargo Terminal, near the port of Mersin in southern Turkey. Atommash has shipped all the most important large-sized equipment for the primary circuit of the reactor for Akkuyu-1, Rosatom said.
Atommash is a branch of AEM Technologies, which is part of Atomenergomash, the equipment-building division of Rosatom.
A crane unloads an Akkuyu-1 steam generator. Photo: Akkuyu Nuclear JSC
The components: According to Rosatom, the 330-metric ton, 12-meter-long reactor pressure vessel took nearly three years to manufacture. It is being trucked to a port near Volgodonsk on the Don River, and from there it will be shipped to Turkey via the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
The four steam generators, each weighing 365 tons, were shipped from Russia on August 22. A large Liebherr LR 1800 crawler crane was used to unload them from the ship.
Background: The Russian and Turkish governments signed a cooperation agreement in May 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.
When all four Akkuyu reactors are in operation, they will generate an estimated 10 percent of Turkey’s electricity, according to Rosatom. The $20-billion project is the world’s first nuclear power plant to be built using the build-own-operate financing model.
