The construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant (NPP) project, Akkuyu NPP will start shortly once the company obtains its construction license, according to Konstantin Ryzhak, the deputy general Manager of the Akkuyu Nuclear Company.
The preparation works to start construction are ongoing and are dependent on receiving the construction license, said Ryzhak. 'Our preparations will be complete by the end of March,' he told Anadolu Agency after the fifth International Nuclear Power Plants Summit on Wednesday.
Russian state nuclear company Rosatom plans to construct the Akkuyu plant in the country's southern province of Mersin on the Mediterranean coast.
The plant will have a capacity of 4,800 megawatts in four units and a working life of 8,000 hours per year. For the first construction phase, two units are planned with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts.
The plant has an operational date set for the first reactor by 2023 while the plant is expected to be up and running at full capacity by 2025.
Turkish companies, which have gained extensive experience in building hydropower, coal and natural gas power plants, are estimated to construct 90 percent of the NPP and up to 40 percent of the assembly works and supply equipment for the plant.
To attract local involvement in the project, Ryzhak said that the company would 'open a new department for localization.'
- Turkish students will graduate Monday
The deal for the construction of the plant, which was signed in May 2010, stipulated that Russia would educate Turkish students in leading nuclear universities in Russia.
Russia is currently educating more than 250 Turkish students in nuclear engineering in Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) of Russia's National Research Nuclear University.
Ryzhak said that 35 Turkish nuclear engineering students, who plan to work at the nuclear plant, will graduate on Monday, March 12.
By Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr