Russian and Turkish engineers have completed the enlargement and installation of electric motors for the main circulation pumping units (GTsNA – Glavnikh Tsirculyatsionnikh Nasosnikh Agregatov) at unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Türkiye.
Electric motors are categorised as large-sized equipment. Each weighs 58.3 tonnes with a diameter of 4 metres and a height of about 6 metres. The electric motor bearings are lubricated and cooled by water circulating in an autonomous circuit system. The electric motors will circulate the coolant (desalinated water) in the primary circuit and ensure heat removal from the reactor core.
“Installation work at the Akkuyu unit 1 is being carried out according to plan. Engineers …have installed four electric motors for the main circulation pump units in the designed position, said Sergei Butskikh, General Director of project company Akkuyu Nukleer. “Completion of the installation will allow us to begin fitting the engines with supply pipelines and to conduct acceptance tests, which will include cranking them while idle. The tests, during which the heating of the bearings and motor housing and the presence of vibration are checked, will allow us to confirm the compliance of the equipment with the design parameters.”
Turning the main circulation pumps while idle is a necessary step before conducting hydraulic tests and flushing the primary circuit of the reactor plant.
Akkuyu, Türkiye’s first NPP, will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. 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. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model. Unit 1 is expected to begin operation in 2025. In July Akkuyu NPP reported that some 70% of the equipment and systems installed at unit 1 had already undergone commissioning.
Researched and written by Judith Perera
