ISTANBUL, October 29. /TASS/. The launch of the first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP), which is being built in Turkey by Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom, is planned in 2026, the country’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Ulke TV.
"Akkuyu will start to generate power in 2026," he said, adding that the launch was initially planned for 2023.
In the Turkish minister’s words, the delays in the project were in part caused by distruptions of equipment supplies from European countries.
"We have survived the pandemic and faced lots of covert, direct and most direct sanctions. We also went through the process of storing the already prepaid equipment in Europe, which caused delays," Bayraktar said.
Earlier Bayraktar said that the equipment for Akkuyu, ordered from Siemens before the introduction of sanctions against Russia, never arrived at the NPP site. He also called the German company an unreliable supplier due to the violation of contractual obligations.
Akkuyu NPP will be Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, built by Russia’s Rosatom state corporation. The Akkuyu NPP project includes four power units equipped with Generation 3+ VVER reactors of the Russian design. The capacity of each power unit is planned at 1,200 MW.
According to Bayraktar, once all the four Akkuyu reactors are connected to the grid, it will account for about 10% of Turkey’s energy demand.