In the building of the unit 2 turbine hall at the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Turkiye, concreting of the foundation of the turbine unit has been completed. This is a key event enabling installation of components of the turbine unit.
Development of the design strength of the foundation concrete takes 30 days. Next, a special commission including representatives of the Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NDK) and an independent inspection organisation will check the quality of concreting. After all control inspections have concluded, the installation of the foundation slab for the turbine unit will be considered complete.
Akkuyu, Turkiye's first NPP, will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model and the project is fully funded by Russia. However, Rosatom has the right to sell up to 49% in the project shares to other investors. 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. Completion of unit 1 is expected in the third quarter of 2023 and it is expected to begin operation in October 2024.
The General Director of project company Akkuyu Nukleer (part of Rosatom) Anastasia Zoteeva explained: “The foundation under a turbine unit is a complex building structure capable of accepting and evenly distributing the loads that arise during turbine operation.” She thanked the builders for their coordinated work in constructing the foundation slab and noted that the operation was carried out in accordance with IAEA safety standards, Turkish and requirements of the global nuclear community.
In constructing the turbine unit foundation, a state-of-the-art vibration isolation system was used, an important part of which are spring blocks. These are designed to separate the foundation slabs of the turbine hall building and the turbine unit, increase the level of seismic resistance, and also to minimise vibrations during the operation of the turbine unit. The foundation is a concrete base on which the turbine and generator are placed.
Image courtesy of Rosatom
