Full transparency and compliance with international standards are the key principles underlying the Akkuyu NPP project. In January, Turkey’s first nuclear power plant organized an Open Doors event to invite guests to the construction site, while the management system of the project company Akkuyu Nuclear passed an independent supervisory audit.
The first supervisory audit confirmed that the company’s integrated management system (IMS) complies with the requirements of international standards.
The auditors inspected the Akkuyu NPP construction site and examined documents at the company’s offices in Ankara and Moscow. Audited were the management processes in engineering, construction, installation and commissioning at every stage of the Akkuyu NPP lifecycle across the project owner, licensee and contractor roles.
The audit was conducted jointly by Russian and Turkish certification bodies.
Following the audit, excellent coordination of supply chain audits, alertness of mobile response units, improved safety culture at the contractors’ sites and deployment of advanced fire fighting equipment were named by the auditors among the strengths of Akkuyu Nuclear’s IMS.
“We received a positive opinion from the certification body on completion of the audit. This speaks to the fact that Akkuyu Nuclear effectively uses best management practices to meet international standards and successfully apply nuclear safety rules,” summarized Sergey Butskikh, CEO of Akkuyu Nuclear.
The second supervisory audit will take place in 2025.
Commissioning operations began at the pump station of Unit 1 in early February.
Cooling water pumps and backup diesel generator pumps are undergoing a series of individual hot tests. Commissioning specialists have carried out trials of the cooling water pumps and are now checking carefully the operating parameters of the equipment.
As Sergey Butskikh explained, the pumps installed at the coastal pump station are the largest at the nuclear power plant. “They will supply water for every cooling system of the power unit, so the reliable operation of these pumps is crucial for the proper functioning of the core equipment, including the reactor and the turbine,” Sergey Butskikh said.
The unprecedented nature of the Akkuyu NPP project keeps it in the spotlight of attention from both nuclear professionals and many other specialists. In January, the plant site was visited by a delegation of teachers from Russia, finalists of the Great Class! nationwide teacher competition, and ambassadors of Rosatom’s Nuclear Lesson educational project. The delegates were demonstrated how the work is organized at the training center for the plant’s operating personnel. Then they had an opportunity to visit Unit 1 and its turbine hall in which the turbine installation had been completed in December 2024, ascend to the world’s most powerful crawler crane, and take a look at the site from above. Afterwards, each teacher conducted a ‘Nuclear Lesson’ at the school for the children of Akkuyu employees.
“It was the first time we had received a delegation of Russian school teachers, and we were very pleased with the visit. Inspired by the extent of our project, they will share their experience with students after they return to their schools across Russia, fostering additional motivation for them to study hard and pursue interesting and in-demand professions,” Sergey Butskikh noted.
Rosatom organizes career guidance events and helps train nuclear industry professionals in its host communities. With support from the Ministry of Education and Turkish university professors, Akkuyu Nuclear experts have developed a textbook and a course entitled ‘Introduction to Nuclear Energy’. The course has been included in the curriculum of over a dozen vocational schools in the province of Mersin.
In January, everyone who wanted to visit the Akkuyu site had this chance and could see the extent of construction works as Akkuyu Nuclear organized an Open Doors Day for the fourth year in a row. Turkish nuclear engineers working at the site served as guides. Online visitors were taken to the nuclear and turbine islands of Unit 1, offshore and onshore technical structures, and many other facilities of the nuclear power plant. The guides explained the specifics of technological processes and the principles of equipment operation.
“Openness and transparency are the key values of the nuclear plant construction project, so we will continue to inform residents of the Mersin province and entire Turkey of every important project development through various channels, including through young engineers whom we consider to be nuclear technology ambassadors,” Sergey Butskikh said. He also mentioned that over 34,000 people were working at the construction site, of which 28,000 were Turkish nationals.
Earlier Salih Sarı, Head of the Department for Nuclear Infrastructure Development of the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, posted on social media that local content in the Akkuyu construction project had reached 56%, bringing about USD 7.5 billion into the country’s economy. According to him, Ankara plans to increase this figure to at least USD 10 billion by the end of 2028. “We are working day and night to make Turkey a key player of the nuclear industry,” Salih Sarı noted.
Photo by: Akkuyu Nuclear
