Akkuyu Nuclear, the project owner, said excavations for the reactor building, turbine hall, auxiliary reactor building and other main facilities under way.
“By the end of the year, the construction of the concrete blinding of the reactor and turbine buildings foundation slabs will begin, and afterwards the reinforcement of the slabs will be made,” said Sergei Butckikh, Akkuyu Nuclear first deputy chief executive officer. He said Akkuyu will then be the world’s largest nuclear construction centre, with four power units being built simultaneously.
The $20bn Akkuyu, the first commercial nuclear power station in Turkey, is being built in southwest Turkey by Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom under a contract signed in 2010.
The station will have four Generation III+ VVER-1200 units, with the first expected to come online in 2023 and a further unit starting every year afterwards.