Construction and installation work at the pumping station is almost complete, and we are starting the key stage of starting to commission the main equipment,” said Sergei Butskikh, First Deputy General Director of project company Akkuyu Nukleer and Director of the Akkuyu NPP under construction. “The coastal pumping station uses the largest pumps at the NPP. They will provide water to all the cooling systems of the unit, so stable operation of the pumps is extremely important for the reliable operation of all basic equipment, including the reactor unit and turbine unit. The coastal pumping station is a unique hydraulic structure. The design of the station, was developed taking into account the most modern safety standards, was successfully implemented thanks to the coordinated work of the Turkish-Russian team of designers and builders.”
The main equipment at the Akkuyu NPP will be cooled using water from the Mediterranean Sea, some of which will pass through desalination complexes. For this, a complex of marine and coastal hydraulic structures has been designed and is being built. These include four pumping stations (one for each unit), a drainage channel, siphon wells, a distribution chamber, a water intake and a spillway structure – the entire complex can be compared to the construction of a hydroelectric power station.
The coastal pumping station is equipped with four powerful pump units for the main cooling water. Their total productivity under normal operation of the NPP will be 260,000 cubic metres per hour and this water will be supplied to the cooling systems of unit 1. The main cooling water pump units are located in the building some 21 metres below ground level, and electric motors with a capacity of 6500 kW are five metres below ground. This design will reliably protect the equipment of the pumping station from any external factors, including floods and tsunamis.
Akkuyu, Türkiye’s first NPP, will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. The pouring of first concrete for unit 1 took place in April 2018, for unit 2 in June 2020, for unit 3 in March 2021, and for unit 4 in July 2022. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model. Unit 1 is expected to begin operation in 2025. In July Akkuyu NPP reported that some 70% of the equipment and systems installed at unit 1 had already undergone commissioning.
