Trial production at Akkuyu nuclear plant to start in 2025

ISTANBUL

Ankara aims to start trial production at Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

Türkiye plans to load the first fuel into its over 90 percent complete first reactor in 2025, marking the start of trial production, the minister wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Construction of Akkuyu NPP's four reactors progresses rapidly, he noted, adding that the completion of the First Reactor Turbine Plant Assembly marks another significant milestone in the plant's commissioning process.

“By the end of 2028, we will gradually commission four reactors and meet 10 percent of our electricity needs in a carbon-neutral way,” he added.

Nuclear energy plays an important role in reaching Türkiye's 2053 net zero emission target.

To this end, the country plans to build nuclear power plants in two other locations after the first plant at Akkuyu.

An intergovernmental agreement was signed between Russia and Türkiye in May 2010 for the Akkuyu NPP that will consist of four VVER-1200 power units with a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

The foundation for the plant was laid in 2018 and it is expected to be finished in seven years, according to the contract.

Last month, Bayraktar said that Türkiye aims to have 7,200 megawatts of nuclear power by 2035, stressing that without nuclear energy the country is unlikely to meet its 2053 net-zero target.

Türkiye plans to build two more nuclear power plants in the Black Sea province of Sinop and the Thrace region.