Akkuyu project receives production licence

JSC Akkuyu NPP, the Russian-owned company responsible for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, has been awarded a 49-year electricity generation licence. The company received a preliminary licence, enabling it to start investment and permitting procedures for the project, in June 2015. Turkey's energy market regulatory authority said then that JSC Akkuyu NPP would receive a production licence - needed to start generating electricity from the plant - once it met the requirements outlined in that document. The production licence was awarded yesterday.

JSC Akkuyu NPP, the Russian-owned company responsible for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, has been awarded a 49-year electricity generation licence. The company received a preliminary licence, enabling it to start investment and permitting procedures for the project, in June 2015. Turkey's energy market regulatory authority (EPDK) said then that JSC Akkuyu NPP would receive a production licence - needed to start generating electricity from the plant - once it met the requirements outlined in that document. The production licence was awarded yesterday.

How four AES-2006 units could appear at Akkuyu (Image: Rosatom)

The project to build four 1200 MWe Gidropress-designed AES-2006 VVER pressurized water reactors - on the Akkuyu site in the Mersin province in southern Turkey - is being financed by Russia under a build-own-operate model, in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement Turkey and Russia signed in 2010. The plant is scheduled to start operations on 29 October, 2023 - the centenary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey.

According to Sputnik news agency, Russia's investments in the project will amount to $22 billion.

In statement yesterday, JSC Akkuyu NPP said it had applied to the EPDK for the generation licence on 28 February.

"While reviewing the application, the EPDK examined a wide range of documents, including the Program of Project Implementation and the company's constitutional documents. After thorough review of the application documentation the board of directors of EPDK took the decision to approve the application for the licence," the company said. The licence is valid until 15 June, 2066.

The company expects to obtain the final land permits and land property rights "in the near future".

It will then need to obtain a 'limited construction permit' from the EPDK, which will permit the start of construction work on the non-nuclear part of the plant, including the turbine island and auxiliary buildings and structures.

Receipt of the construction licence and consequently the pouring of first concrete are expected to take place in March next year, it said.

"Under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement, commissioning of the first power unit should happen not later than seven years following issuance of all authorisations by the Republic of Turkey," it added.

The company obtained a site licence in October 2011 and in November 2013 the EPDK approved the Basic Site Report under the terms of that licence. In December 2014, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation of the Republic of Turkey approved the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the Akkuyu project and in June 2015 the EPDK issued the preliminary generation licence. In June 2015, JSC Akkuyu NPP and Turkey's Cengiz İnşaat signed a contract on the design and building of off-shore hydraulic structures for the project.

On 9 February this year, the EPDK approved the design parameters of the Akkuyu NPP site according to the Site Parameters Report for the project.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News