In a nuclear power plant, the RPV is one of the largest reactor components, a vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core and fuel.
The component, which weighs 330 tonnes, and is 12 metres high and 4.5 metres wide, was manufactured at an Atommash production site is near Volgodonsk in southwest Russia. According to previous statements, manufacturing of the RPV took almost three years.
At the end of September 2020, Russia shipped the RPV from its production site. It was expect to travel by land and sea to its final destination in southwest Turkey.
Akkuyu Nuclear said the sea voyage from Russia to Turkey took 20 days and the RPV and its documentation will now be assessed by a commission before local acceptance.
The $20bn Akkuyu nuclear power station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Turkey, is being built near Mersin on the country’s southern Mediterranean coast under a contract signed with Russia 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.
