February 3, 2025, Büyükeceli, Mersin Province, Türkiye. – The start-up and adjustment phase has begun on the main equipment of the on-shore pumping station of Akkuyu NPP Unit 1 (the plant is being built by Rosatom State Corporation in Türkiye).
Pumping units for the main cooling water and pumps that will operate backup diesel power plants are under a series of individual load tests. Skilled start-up and adjustment specialists have already performed test runs of the pumping units of the main cooling water under load and are now carefully checking operating parameters of the equipment.
“Construction and installation works at the pumping station are almost completed, and we are embarking on a key stage – start-up and adjustment works on the main equipment. The NPP’s largest pumps are being operated at the onshore pumping station. They will provide water to all the cooling systems of the Power Unit, that is why stable operation of the pumps is extremely important for the reliable operation of main equipment, including the reactor plant and the turbine unit. The onshore pumping station is a unique hydraulic engineering structure. The station’s design solution, developed taking into account the advanced safety standards, was successfully implemented thanks to the well-coordinated work of the Turkish-Russian team of designers and builders,” AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC Chief Executive Officer Sergei Butckikh noted.
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Akkuyu NPP is the first-ever nuclear power plant in the Republic of Türkiye being built by Rosatom State Corporation. The Akkuyu NPP project includes four power units equipped with Generation 3+ VVER reactors of Russian design. The capacity of each NPP power unit will be 1200 MW.
Akkuyu NPP is the first project in the global nuclear industry being implemented according to the Build-Own-Operate model.
The main equipment of the Akkuyu NPP will be cooled by water from the Mediterranean Sea, with certain volume of water passing through desalination plants. A complex of marine and on-shore hydraulic engineering structures has been designed and is being built for this purpose. These are four pumping stations (one for each power unit), a drainage channel, siphon wells, a distribution chamber, a water intake and spillway structure – the whole complex can be compared with the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in complexity and labor costs.
The on-shore pumping station is equipped with 4 powerful pumping units of the main cooling water. Their total capacity in the normal operation of the power unit will be 260,000 m3/h. This volume of water will be supplied by the pumps to cooling systems of the Unit. Pumping units for the main cooling water are located in the building at 21 meters elev. below ground level, and electric motors with a capacity of 6500 kW are located at -5 meters elev. The constructive solution will reliably protect the pumping station equipment from any external factors including floods and tsunamis.
Russia is actively developing technical and scientific cooperation with all interested countries. The implementation of major international projects also continues. Rosatom and its divisions take an active part in this work.
