Country’s first reactor expected online in 2025
Russia’s nuclear equipment manufacturer Atommash has shipped the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for Unit 3 of the Akkuyu nuclear power station under construction in southern Turkey.
The $20bn (€18.8bn) Akkuyu, the first commercial nuclear power station in Turkey, is being built by subsidiaries of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom under a contract signed in 2010.
The station, in Mersin province on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast, will have four Generation III+ VVER-1200 units, with the first expected to come online in 2025 and a further unit starting every year afterwards.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, construction of Akkuyu-3 began in March 2021.
In a nuclear power plant, the 340-tonne RPV is one of the largest reactor components, a vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core and fuel.
Rosatom said the RPV for Akkuyu-3 is the fifth such component shipped by Atommash to clients in Russia and overseas in 2023.
