Turkey grants construction license to Akkuyu NPP

By Huseyin Erdogan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) granted the country’s first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), a construction license on Monday that would allow it to build a unit of the plant.

The plant, comprising four units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, will be built by the Russian State Nuclear Energy Agency, Rosatom.

In the first phase of the construction, two units would be built.

The plant, which has an investment cost of about $20 billion, will have a working life of 8,000 hours per year.

The Akkuyu NPP will produce 35 billion kilowatts of electricity at full capacity, which will meet about 10 percent of Turkey's electricity needs.

The first reactor is expected to become operational by 2023, while the plant is expected to be up and running at full capacity by 2025.

Akkuyu NPP was licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1976; the location report was updated and approved in December 2013, according to TAEK.

"As an important part of the project, the construction license process, which started nearly three years ago, has been completed… It has been decided by TAEK to grant a construction license for the first unit of Akkuyu NPP," the atomic energy authority said.

Last year, following the "positive decision" of the Environmental Impact Assessment by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, and the "production license" by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority, the "limited work permit" was given the first unit of the plant. After receiving the permits, the underground work of the reactor building started.

The project started with an intergovernmental agreement signed between Turkey and Russia on May 12, 2010.

At present, there are 450 nuclear power plants in 31 countries, while 55 plants are under construction around the world. The number of power plants under construction will be 56 with Akkuyu NPP.