Launch of Akkuyu NPP’s first unit is year’s top priority, says Russian envoy

Russian Ambassador to Ankara Sergey Vershinin has identified the launch of the first power unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant as a key priority for the project this year.

“Today, our main task is to ensure the launch of the first power unit by the end of this year,” Vershinin said in an interview with Cumhuriyet.

He highlighted the contribution of Russia and Rosatom to the project and noted that Türkiye would subsequently build two more nuclear power plants, in Sinop and Trakya.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed that Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly launch the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.

The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is Türkiye’s first nuclear facility, under construction on the Mediterranean coast in Mersin Province. It consists of four Russian-designed VVER-1200 Generation III+ reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 MW and is being built under a 2010 intergovernmental agreement on a build-own-operate model fully financed by Rosatom. 

Once complete, it is expected to meet approximately 10% of Türkiye’s electricity demand.

By Jeyhun Aghazada