Akkuyu NPP in Türkiye gets nuclear fuel

© Photo: Kremlin broadcast

The first Turkish nuclear power plant Akkuyu, which is being built by Russia, is now receiving nuclear fuel. The NPP will receive the status of a nuclear power facility. The event is attended by the presidents of Russia and Türkiye, as well as the head of the IAEA.

The ceremony of delivering fuel to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant is currently taking place in Türkiye in the province of Mersin.

The ceremony is attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who, due to health condition, will join the event via video link from the presidential palace in Ankara, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, also via videoconferencing, as well as the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, and the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev.

The Turkish leader was planning to attend the ceremony in a traditional format, but cancelled his participation after falling ill. 

Akkuyu nuclear power plant

When nuclear fuel is loaded to the station, Akkuyu will officially become the first nuclear power facility in the country, and Türkiye will gain nuclear status.

Earlier, the official representative of the Turkish President, Ibrahim Kalin, said that the 1st unit of the station will be commissioned in 6–10 months after the IAEA registers the nuclear power plant as a nuclear facility. Today, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, specified that the commissioning of the NPP is scheduled for next year.

The NPP project is being implemented on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed by Russia and Türkiye on May 12, 2010. The funding is carried out completely by the Russian side.

Türkiye to save money on gas and coal

Leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Yushkov, in an interview with a Vestnik Kavkaza correspondent, spoke about Türkiye’s benefits after the launching of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

"The main point of building and launching a nuclear power plant is to diversify the energy balance. Until today, the republic had all sources of energy, except for this. The specifics of nuclear energy is that nuclear power plants always operate in the same mode, they do not compensate for consumption surges – gas and coal-fired thermal stations are used for this,” he said.

“It is unlikely that Türkiye will reduce the production of energy from renewable sources. They are usually operating at the same level in order to take energy from renewable sources to the maximum. They are subsidized, because renewable energy itself is expensive and must necessarily generate income in order to recoup investments. This means that when gas is expensive, gas is less consumed in favor of nuclear power plants. When gas is cheaper, coal is less consumed as it produces a lot of emissions , and it is increasingly difficult to keep it in the energy balance," Igor Yushkov explained.

Will Türkiye build a second nuclear power plant?

The expert admitted that Rosatom will build at least one more nuclear power plant in Türkiye in the future. "It is possible that Rosatom's cooperation with Türkiye will continue, and not in the form of expanding Akkuyu, since it is already very large. The corporation would rather build nuclear power plants in other regions of the country. Rosatom has lobbied for such a decision. But there may be resistance from Gazprom, since the more nuclear power plants there are in Türkiye, the more they will squeeze out other energy sources, creating additional competition for Russian gas supplies,” Igor Yushkov noted.