Türkiye issues permission to operate 1st power unit of Akkuyu nuke plant

By Sibel Morrow

Türkiye on Tuesday granted permission to Akkuyu Nuclear Company to operate the first power unit of the country's first nuclear power plant in the southern Mersin province.

The company said in a statement that it had filed the first batch of documents on March 17 and the second on Aug. 24 to the Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Authority to obtain commissioning authorization.

The permission follows the start-up, adjustment and operation processes, which are the final phases of the nuclear plant construction for a safe operation.

“The decision of the Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Authority to issue a permit to commission the first unit of the Akkuyu NPP confirms that we have fulfilled all the requirements of the Turkish legislation, international standards for the construction of nuclear power plants, and are ready to move on,” Anastasia Zoteeva, director general of the project company, Akkuyu Nuclear, was quoted as saying in a Telegram statement by the Russian state atomic energy agency Rosatom.

The latest move, she said, is the beginning of “a new, important and responsible stage in the life of the project,” Zoteeva said, adding that the next stage is to obtain a license to operate the first power unit.

This will allow them to begin loading nuclear fuel into the reactor and begin pre-launch control operations, she further said.

“Currently, Akkuyu Nuclear specialists continue to develop technical documentation for filing an application for a license,” the statement added.

The Akkuyu NPP, located in the Gulnar district of Mersin, will have a power generation capacity of 35 billion kilowatt hours after all four units are completed.

According to the intergovernmental agreement between Türkiye and Russia, the first unit is expected to start electricity generation in 2025, seven years after the construction license for the first power unit was obtained.​​​​​​​