The 12-metre-long, 4.2-metre-diameter generator stator is one of the heaviest components in a nuclear power plant, with preparations including reinforcement of the turbine hall floor, Rosatom said.
Being transported to the turbine hall (Image: Akkuyu NPP)
It was lifted into the pre-design position, 18.5 metres above ground level, using a hydraulic rigging system.
(Image: Akkuyu NPP)
Akkuyu Nuclear JSC CEO Sergei Butskikh said: “Commissioning works continue at Unit 1, while construction and installation operations are simultaneously performed consistently at other units. With assistance of an experienced Turkish company, which specialises in transportation and rigging operations, we completed transportation and lifting of the turbine generator stator to the design elevation, as well as its installation into the pre-design position at unit 2. Thus, in the turbine hall we are gradually switching from construction works to installation of turbine plant components, while ensuring the required margin for subsequent installation and commissioning works.”
(Image: Rosatom)
Background
Akkuyu, in the southern Mersin province, is Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors, under a so-called BOO (build-own-operate) model. According to the terms of the 2010 Intergovernmental Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, the commissioning of the first power unit of the nuclear power plant must take place within seven years from receipt of all permits for the construction of the unit.
The licence for the construction of the first unit was issued in 2018, with construction work beginning that year. Nuclear fuel was delivered to the site in April 2023. Turkey’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency issued permission for the first unit to be commissioned in December 2023, and in February 2024 it was announced that the reactor compartment had been prepared for controlled assembly of the reactor – and the generator stator had also been installed in its pre-design position.
The aim is for unit 1 to begin supplying Turkey’s energy system during 2026. When the 4800 MWe plant is completed, it is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs. All four units are under construction – first concrete for the fourth unit was poured in July 2022.
