Rosatom presented promising areas of cooperation at the NPPES-2024 Nuclear Forum in Turkey
July 04, 2024, Istanbul, Turkey. Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation became a partner of the VI. International Exhibition and the X Summit of Nuclear Power Plants NPPES-2024, which ended in Istanbul (Turkey) on July 3, 2024.
Anton Dedusenko, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC (Rosatom enterprise), gave a speech at the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Dedusenko noted: "To date, our efforts are focused on the implementation of the Akkuyu NPP construction project. At the same time, we have gained a good pace, opening up new prospects. We are closely following Turkey's plans for the development of nuclear energy, which involve expanding the installed nuclear capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2050, including the construction of small modular reactors with a total capacity of 5 gigawatts. High and low power, performing various functions, successfully complement each other, and Rosatom has something to offer in both formats, as well as in a number of other areas."
Deniz Sesemin, Director of Construction and Production Organization of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, told about the status of work on one of the largest nuclear construction sites in the world, the construction project of the country's first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu NPP: "Most of the main equipment has already been installed in the reactor department of the first power unit. Our specialists carry out the installation of a fuel handling machine designed to load nuclear fuel into the reactor core and replace spent nuclear fuel with fresh fuel. We are also completing the assembly of the electric motors of the main circulation pumps, which will ensure the circulation of the coolant, that is, desalinated water, in the first circuit of the reactor plant. In general, all systems and elements of the power unit are gradually brought into operational readiness, their compliance with the criteria and characteristics established in the project is checked."
For the first time at the Rosatom forum, a discussion "Nuclear Energy for a low-carbon transition" was organized, dedicated to the future of low-carbon generation and the role of nuclear energy in ensuring competitive conditions for Turkish industry and business. Representatives of government agencies and the experts discussed economic instruments that can support the energy transition and ensure the role of nuclear energy as the basis for the competitiveness of Turkish business in the international market.
Polina Lyon, Director for Sustainable Development of Rosatom noted: "No one would deny nowadays, that nuclear energy has one of the lowest carbon footprint among all electricity sources. But that is not enough to be low-carbon by nature, it’s important to be recognized as low-carbon and green by law. We believe that nuclear energy should be explicitly included into green regulatory framework, together with renewables. We already perform this approach in Russia, as we have nuclear in the Taxonomy of green projects and in the national green certificates system, that was launched this year in Russia. We are very much looking forward the same regulatory developments in Turkiye, as it would be commissioned the Akkuyu NPP soon. Only with proper green regulation nuclear energy could make its significant contribution to the national NetZero plans.”
Rosatom's Fuel Division presented its experience in decommissioning nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities and radioactive waste management in the life cycle of large-capacity nuclear power plants. Russian experts spoke about the possibilities of developing national infrastructure for waste management, including issues of final isolation. Rosatom's technologies and product offerings in the field of radioactive waste management, including the construction of radioactive waste processing complexes, were also presented. Similar RW processing complexes have already been delivered to the sites of the Kudankulam NPP in India, the Roouppur NPP in Bangladesh and the Tianwan NPP in China.
Rosatom representatives also spoke about low-capacity projects where Rosatom has unique competencies. The speaker of the state corporation spoke about the implemented and promising projects of low-power stations in land and floating design. Separate reports were devoted to Rosatom's products in the field of logistics, as well as a multidisciplinary offer.
Within the framework of the event, with the support of the women's communities of the nuclear industries of Russia and Turkey, an international session "Women's leadership in the development of high technologies and innovations in the nuclear industry" was held. The session demonstrated the importance of developing professional contacts of women specialists for the sustainable development of global nuclear energy.
The Rosatom exhibition was dedicated to modern high-tech products of enterprises of the Russian nuclear industry in key areas of the state corporation's activities in the field of low-carbon generation, in particular, projects of large and low-power nuclear power plants, floating nuclear power plants, wind power. Information was also provided on energy and non-energy technologies of the nuclear industry, including logistics and medicine, composite materials and many others.
Representatives of the state corporation's organizations took part in B2B sessions with representatives of the Turkish industry.
For reference: The NPPES-2024 Forum is the leading industry event in Turkey. This year, it gathered more than 1,600 delegates and 250 companies from 12 countries, including South Korea, China, Germany, Italy, France, etc.
Akkuyu NPP is the first nuclear power plant being built in the Republic of Türkiye. The Akkuyu NPP project includes four power units equipped with Generation 3+ VVER reactors of Russian design. The capacity of each power unit will be 1200 MW. Akkuyu NPP is the first project in the global nuclear industry being implemented according to the Build-Own-Operate model.
Russia continues to maintain a constructive dialog with its foreign colleagues, developing mutually beneficial cooperation. The implementation of major foreign energy projects also continues. Rosatom and its entities take an active part in this work.
