Turkey sets timeline for first Akkuyu nuclear reactor launch

Turkey expects to launch the first reactor at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, being built by Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, within the next few months.

Turkey plans to launch the first unit of the Akkuyu NPP within months, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said at the Bosphorus Diplomatic Forum in Istanbul.

The minister noted that four reactors are currently under construction simultaneously at the site, with the first unit scheduled to be commissioned by the end of this year.

"We are currently building four reactors at the Akkuyu NPP simultaneously. We hope that in the next few months we will start generating electricity at the first reactor. This is a 70-year-old dream. Turkey is joining the nuclear league," Bayraktar said.

The Akkuyu NPP, being built by Russian state corporation Rosatom, is Turkey's first nuclear power plant. It comprises four Generation 3+ VVER reactors with a capacity of 1,200 MW each. The project is the first in the global nuclear industry to be implemented under the Build-Own-Operate model.