Turkey Expects First Akkuyu Reactor To Begin Operation By End Of 2023

9 Nov (NucNet): Turkey expects the first unit of its planned Akkuyu nuclear power station to be online by the end of 2023, according to energy minister Berat Albayrak. Turkey recently told the director-general of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, that it wants to make a decision soon on whether to go ahead with Akkuyu, but stopped short of giving a timetable. Russia has signed a contract to supply four VVER-1200 units for the facility, near Mersin on the country’s southern Mediterranean coast. Turkey does not have any commercial nuclear reactors, but has confirmed it is planning to build two stations – Akkuyu and Sinop – with four units each. Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan was quoted in local media earlier this week as saying he also wants to see a third nuclear station. Turkey has signed an agreement with Japan for the construction the second station, Sinop. According to a recent International Energy Agency report preparations are advanced at Akkuyu and construction will begin in 2017, although Turkey has not confirmed this. The IEA said feasibility studies are continuing at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Itochu Corporation for the construction of the Sinop station, with four Generation-III Atmea-1 PWRs.