Akkuyu second unit to be built in 2020 first quarter

The construction of the second unit of Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear power plant may start in the first quarter of 2020, Russia's atomic energy corporation Rosatom's Director General Alexey Likhachev has said.

"We may hold an official concrete pouring ceremony in March 2020," Likhachev said during a press conference in Moscow on Dec. 30, and added that the preliminary works at the site have already begun.

Likhachev said that Titan-2 IC Ictas, a joint venture between Concern Titan-2 JSC and the Turkish construction company IC Ictas, carries out the construction of the plant.

"We created an alliance with Turkey's IC İçtaş and Concern Titan-2, which is a part of Rosatom. This alliance gives us hope for the successful implementation of the project," Likhachev said.

An intergovernmental agreement was signed between Turkey and Russia in May 2010 for Akkuyu NPP, first nuclear plant of Turkey that will have four VVER-1200 power reactors with a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

The plant's groundbreaking ceremony held on April 3, 2018 with the participation of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin via video conference call from Ankara.

Upon completion, the plant will generate about 35 billion kilowatts-hours of electricity per year, with a service life of 60 years.

The first reactor of the plant is planned to be operational in 2023.

Rosatom on Dec. 28 announced that Akkuyu signed an agreement to obtain coolant system equipments for turbine installments.

To supply equipments for systems that will provide cooling water for turbine capacitors, Rosatom's energy engineering division Atomenergomash, Russian firm NPO TsNIITMASH, and Germany's Taprogge GmbH signed a...