Akkuyu NPP, the first nuclear power plant of the Republic of Turkey, opened its doors once again with the Open Door Day event. AKKUYU NUCLEAR INC. Within the scope of the Open Door Day organized by the project managers, the project managers conveyed the latest situation regarding the power plant construction and the most important stages completed during the year. The experts of the power plant also answered the questions of the audience about the project. As part of the video tour held as part of the Open Door Day, young Turkish engineers working at the Akkuyu NPP construction site showed the audience the main construction areas, power units, hydrotechnical structures, fuel tank and other important parts.
Approximately 1000 people from many cities in Turkey such as Mersin, Ankara, Istanbul, Bodrum, Konya, Bursa, Trabzon and Izmir attended the event, which was broadcast live and presented by the famous announcer Oylum Talu. Young employees consisting of Turkish engineers who received nuclear engineering education in Russia and joined the AKKUYU NÜKLEER A.Ş team to work on the project were present at the live broadcast studio specially prepared for the event.
AKKUYU NÜKLEER A.Ş General Manager Anastasia Zoteeva made the opening speech of the Open Door Day event. Knowing that in 100, the 2023th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, a historical event will take place in the Akkuyu NPP field, Zoteeva said: “In 2023, a historical event will take place here. Fresh fuel will be delivered to the site for the first unit of our power plant. Akkuyu NPP will contribute to Turkey's technological development and energy supply security. Nuclear power plants provide predictable electricity tariffs regardless of oil and gas price fluctuations. Akkuyu NPP also provides employment to thousands of people in the power plant and other sub-sectors. This brings orders for the local industry as well as growth of the service and tourism sectors and much more. This means that the stable economic development of Mersin province, the entire Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey will be secured for many years.”
Participating in the program, AKKUYU NÜKLEER A.Ş. Deputy Director of Construction Dmitry Romanets also told the audience about the most important stages of power plant construction in the last year. Emphasizing that the construction and assembly works of Akkuyu NPP's 1st power unit have reached the final stage, and that the construction and assembly works of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th units are continuing as planned, Romanets said, “The NPP field is increasing its production capacity. This year, an air duct workshop, a pipe workshop and a temporary seawater desalination plant went into operation.” Romanets also answered computer randomly selected video questions from the audience.
Within the scope of the program, a video tour took place with Özlem Arslan, Chief Specialist of NGS Security Audit Department and Burak Pekşen, Pump Station Operator of Hydrotechnical Structures, who received training in Russia and works at AKKUYU NÜKLEER A.Ş. With this tour, the audience had the opportunity to visit the main construction sites where they could see the unique construction works. With the tour, the characteristics of the Akkuyu NPP site, technological processes and the operating principles of the nuclear power plant were also conveyed to the audience.
As part of the tour, the audience saw the fields of all four NGS units. Young engineers, who were the guide of the tour in which the reactor building and engine room of the 1st unit were visited, also showed the audience how to circulate the coastal hydrotechnical structures and the cooling water taken from the sea. In the tour, the fresh nuclear fuel storage building and the energy distribution facility where the energy to be produced by Akkuyu NPP will be connected to the energy system in Turkey via power lines were also shown.
Ahmet Yasin Öner, Chief Specialist of Akkuyu NGS Commercial Operators Group, who did his internship at Novovoronej-2 NPP in Russia, attended the Open Door event via video connection method. Öner gave information about the Novovoronej NPP, which is the reference power plant of Akkuyu NPP and has power units with VVER-1200 reactors, and gave information about the stable economic development, employment, strict environmental control and advanced tourism in the city.
In addition to the video tour at the Open Door Day event, Turkish students who participated in the business personnel training program were also promised. Akkuyu NGS personnel, National Nuclear Research University “MEPhI” fifth year students gave information about nuclear engineering courses. The students stated that in this training program, Turkish citizens and future Russian nuclear scientists were taught the principles of design and management of nuclear power plants, applied training in operation and that the students were guaranteed employment at Akkuyu NPP after passing special exams.
The district governors of Gülnar, Silifke and Aydıncık, where the Akkuyu NPP site is located, also attended the Open Door Day event and drew attention to the role of Akkuyu NPP in the development of the economy, infrastructure and entrepreneurship in the region.
Gülnar District Governor Musa Ayyıldız said, “We can easily talk about the differences of the nuclear power plant project, especially in terms of economic and social status. To speak specifically about Gülnar in our region, the increase in both economic and trade volume has made a great contribution to the region in the last 5 years in a positive way. Again, the increase in worker camps in the Gülnar region, especially in our Büyükeceli neighborhood, has made a great contribution to both the increase in the number of residents in that region and the tradesmen working and operating there.”
Silifke District Governor Abdullah Aslaner shared the socio-economic and cultural changes with foreign experts who came to the region as follows: “The majority of Akkuyu employees reside in our Silifke district. Starting from Taşucu, towards the center and Atakent. Since this has come from all over Turkey, there has been a great social change. This has facilitated this cohesion, as the visitors have a contribution to housing, food and beverage, and social aspects. Because the people of this place see these arrivals not as a burden or as a foreigner, but as a new economic contribution, a new opportunity, a new breakthrough area. Since it is a situation where both sides win in a sense, both cohesion and agreement are achieved very quickly. In fact, the place where we see the results of this most clearly is the public order events. Almost in this sense, we do not have any of our public order incidents”.
Aydıncık District Governor Muhammet Kılıçaslan pointed out the role of the Akkuyu NPP project in increasing the employment level of the population and said: “There is a need for the young population to access new job opportunities. At this point, the nuclear power plant has shown a great improvement compared to previous years in terms of both tourism and urbanization in the region, as it provides employment for the young population, especially the young population in our region, and provides an opportunity for foreign tourists and citizens from abroad. As I have just mentioned, approximately 11 people reside in our district. And almost half of this population consists of young people. Akkuyu Nuclear Plant is an important power especially for young people to find job opportunities.”
At the end of the program, Dmitry Romanets talked about the impressive career guidance project for the children of Akkuyu NPP employees. In their spare time, the project management makes time for children to tour the nuclear power plant under construction. Thus, it helps students to arouse their interest in construction and engineering specialties and to decide on the choice of profession. Romanets said: “Twice a month we show the children the construction site, we sit them in the cabin of the world's largest construction crane, we let them paint the wall next to the offices on the construction site. At home, when parents talk about their work, it is very important for children to imagine where they really are, what their parents are doing. You should have seen how it aroused emotions in children, how their eyes burned! What's more, the excursions for them are run by the best guides on the site – construction managers.”
Full recording of the online broadcast of Akkuyu NPP Open Door Day shortly after AKKUYU NÜKLEER's official YouTube will be on the page.
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