Country’s first nuclear station to have four VVER-1200 units
Workers have lifted into place the fourth tier of the internal steel containment building shell at the Akkuyu-2 nuclear power station in Turkey, Russian state-owned nuclear power corporation Rosatom said.
Rosatom said the component weighs about 140 tonnes and is eight metres high.
The next stage of construction will include the welding together of the third and fourth tiers.
The containment building shell will consist of seven tiers when complete and will subsequently be covered in concrete and tested for hermetic tightness.
Rosatom also said its subsidiary Atommash has manufactured and shipped the pressuriser for Akkuyu-2. The pressuriser is one of the largest components in a pressurised water reactor system. It maintains constant high pressure of 24.7 megapascals (Mpa) in the coolant loop to avoid water from boiling.
In September 2022, the reactor pressure vessel was installed at Akkuyu-2.
The $20bn (€18.2bn) Akkuyu, the first commercial nuclear power station in Turkey, is being built by Rosatom subsidiaries under a contract signed in 2010.
The station will have four Generation III+ VVER-1200 units, with the first expected to come online in 2023 and a further unit starting every year afterwards.
