Anastasia Zoteeva has been appointed chief executive officer of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, the company developing Turkey's first nuclear power plant. She replaced Yuriy Galachuk who had been CEO of Akkuyu Nuclear since May 2017.
Akkuyu Nuclear, founded in December 2010, is a subsidiary of Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom. The company was set up following an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Turkey on cooperation in construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu Site in the Republic of Turkey. Akkuyu Nuclear is responsible for the design construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning of four 1200MW VVER-1200 reactors at the Akkuyu NPP in Mersin Province. The project is being implemented under the build-own-operate model (BOO).
Construction officially started at Akkuyu 1 in April 2018. Almost 90% of concreting has now been completed on the unit 1 reactor building foundation, and works are planned for completion in mid-March, Akkuyu Nuclear told NEI in late February. Pre-construction activities are also underway for Akkuyu 2, and a construction licence is expected in the first half of 2019, which will allow nuclear construction to begin. The target date for launching the first unit is 2023.
"We shall endeavour to fulfil our Turkish partners’ wishes by completing the construction of Akkuyu NPP Power Unit 1 in 2023, the year in which the Republic of Turkey is going to celebrate its centenary," said Zoteeva. "This is a very ambitious task, so the most important persons in our project are those in charge of the construction process and the equipment manufacturing and supplies. Our project team will be reinforced by adding a number of Turkish colleagues," Zoteeva continued.
Ms Zoteeva has been involved in the development of Turkey's first nuclear project for more than two years. In December 2016, she was appointed CEO of Rusatom Energy International (REIN JSC, formerly Rusatom Overseas) the managing company of Akkuyu Nuclear and she has been Chair of the Akkuyu Nuclear board of directors since May 2017.
Photo: Anastasia Zoteeva was appointed chief executive officer of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC in February (Credit: Rosatom)
