Russia, Turkey assessing influence of delays in equipment delivery on Akkuyu NPP construction timeline - Deputy PM Novak

MOSCOW. Oct 7 (Interfax) - Russia and Turkey are assessing how Siemens's failure to deliver equipment for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant could influence the general timeline of its construction, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

"We've found ourselves in a situation where, despite a contract concluded, a supplier from a Western country, namely the Siemens company from Germany, breached its contractual obligations on supplying certain equipment items. While they are not critical, they are still significant enough for the project," Novak's press service circulated his reply to a question from foreign journalists at Russian Energy Week.

"Despite all efforts we made and Turkey's involvement, negotiations did not produce constructive results, and the equipment has never been delivered to the construction site," Novak said.

In the end, Russia's Rosatom state atomic energy corporation and its Turkish partners promptly made adjustments and found a solution to the problem by buying the necessary equipment from friendly countries, and its first batch has already been delivered to the Akkuyu NPP construction site, he said.

"This case shows, on the one hand, that all obstacles can be overcome, and on the other, that unfortunately, they do not accelerate the pace of the work. Together with the Turkish side, we're currently assessing how said situation may affect the project's general timeline. Nevertheless, we're making every effort together with the Turkish side to make sure that all the four units of the Akkuyu NPP operate in 2028," Novak said.

Specialists are currently bringing all systems and elements of the plant's unit 1 to a state of operational readiness and verifying their compliance with the criteria and parameters set in the project documents, Novak said while describing the current situation at the NPP construction site.

"We're currently at the final stage of preparations for starting the NPP's operations," he said.

Rosatom is building Turkey's first Akkuyu NPP in Mersin province. The NPP is to operate four 1,200 MW power units. As previously reported, Turkey was mulling the construction of another two NPPs in Sinop and Trakya provinces.