Turkey's first Akkuyu reactor passes high-pressure tests

Since June, Rosatom teams have been circulating demineralized water, that is, water stripped of its salts, through the primary circuit of Akkuyu's first Turkish reactor, at a pressure of 24.5 MPa. In normal operation, the pressure is only 16 MPa. This pressure ramp-up tests the strength of the whole system before the machine runs for real. The success of the operation has just been confirmed, and reactor No. 1 has thus cleared a step considered crucial.

The primary circuit is the loop that carries the heat generated at the reactor core. If it leaks, the entire rest of the system is compromised, which is why it is worth testing it at a pressure above that of service conditions. The operation also makes it possible to inspect the circuit's various components and to flush the main pipes. It was preceded by the loading of a dummy fuel assembly, a replica with no radioactive material, to rehearse the procedures before the real fuel. The next steps are now known: hot functional tests at a temperature of at least 260°C, followed by the loading of real nuclear fuel, before commissioning begins. Sources do not give a timetable for these stages.

The project has been a long time coming: Turkey has wanted to build a nuclear power plant at Akkuyu for sixty years. The price of this project is heavy dependence. Construction of the four reactors was entrusted to Rosatom, the Russian state-owned company, which also financed the work, will be in charge of operating the plant and even owns it. Ankara is therefore tied to Moscow over the long term, a situation that can only encourage good relations with Russia.

Once in service, the plant is expected to cover about 10% of the country's electricity needs, with estimated annual output of 35 TWh (terawatt-hours, the unit used for large power plants). For a grid that already consumes a great deal, this is a significant share, but the figure remains a forecast, which will only be verifiable after startup and several years of operation.

For its second nuclear project, Turkey has chosen a different approach, taking the geopolitical context into account. It is aiming for a tripartite cooperation with the United States and South Korea. At this stage, this is an intention, not a concluded agreement.