Turkey. Two emergency core cooling system (ECCS) tanks were installed in their design position at Akkuyu Unit 2. These are cylindrical high-pressure vessels made of high-strength steel. Each tank weighs around 80 tonnes and can hold 60 cubic meters of liquid. The ECCS is automatically activated when the reactor is completely de-energized. “The emergency core cooling system has four tanks containing an emergency stock of aqueous boric acid solution. Being a neutron absorber, it is used for flooding the reactor core, thus ensuring safety in an emergency situation,” explains Sergey Butskikh, CEO at Akkuyu Nuclear. Rosatom is building four power units with VVER-1200 reactors in Turkey. All works on the site are monitored by independent inspectors and Turkey’s nuclear watchdog NDK.