An overloading machine, used for maintenance and repair of the reactor compartment, has been installed at unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Türkiye. The overloading machine, consisting of a bridge with a mobile trolley and a working rod, is used to move the fuel assemblies inside the reactor compartment. This process is necessary to replace used fuel with fresh fuel. The machine, weighing 31.6 tonnes, ensures the accuracy and safety of this operation: with a permissible error in performing operations is not more than 2mm.
Sergei Butskikh, First Deputy General Director of project company Akkuyu Nukleer JSC and Director of the Akkuyu NPP under construction said this is an important achievement in the implementation of the Akkuyu project. “It confirms the readiness of the nuclear power plant for subsequent work, including testing and launching the first unit, taking us us one step closer to creating a sustainable and reliable source of electricity for the Republic of Türkiye,” he said
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.
