Ankara: Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced that the first unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant will begin operating by the end of this year, and that necessary tests are currently underway.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, Bayraktar stated in a press conference that work is progressing on the commissioning of the first power unit at Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. The testing phase has begun on the first power unit, which consists of four reactors, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. The first reactor is expected to start generating electricity by the end of this year.

He noted that the operation of the first unit of the nuclear power plant is expected to cover approximately 2-2.5% of Turkey’s electricity needs. Once all four units are operational, the plant will produce approximately 35 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, covering about 10% of Turkey’s total electricity needs.

He added that this production volume is sufficient to fully cover Istanbul’s annual electricity consumption. He continued by stating that they are currently in the testing phase of the first reactor, with the intention to complete the testing gradually and commission the first reactor by the end of this year. The goal is to begin generating electricity by year-end.

Bayraktar confirmed that work is ongoing on the other reactors and that there are plans to build a data processing center at Akkuyu, in addition to the third and fourth power units. He also mentioned that Turkey is negotiating not only with Russia, but also with Canada, China, and South Korea regarding other nuclear power plants, with plans to build eight more reactors.

The Akkuyu plant is Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, and the project is being implemented by Rosatom. It comprises four units with advanced Russian Generation 3+ VVER-1200 reactors, each with a capacity of 1200 megawatts.