The Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the construction of a fourth reactor at the Akyu Nuclear Power Plant in Mersin Province in southeastern Turkey. The device will be built by Akkuyu Nuclear, a subsidiary of Russian nuclear engineer Rosatom, and will be the final stage of the $20 billion project.

Anastasia Zoteeva, Akkuyu's general manager, said that obtaining the unit's construction permit was a "critical step." "Now we are ready to start work on the entire fourth power plant. At the beginning of 2022, we will start building the foundation slabs for the nuclear island building," she said.

The agreement for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Akyu, signed in May 2010, envisages four VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 4.8GW, equivalent to about 10% of Turkey's average demand. Work on the third unit started in March. Keywords: international engineering news, foreign engineering project information

Russia is responsible for the financing, design, construction, maintenance and operation of the plant, and it will be decommissioned at the end of its 60-year service life. The approval process requires 120 licenses and permits issued by Turkish government agencies. These include environmental impact assessments, power generation permits, and some power generation unit construction permits. Rosatom ranks third in the world in terms of nuclear power generation and has the world’s largest portfolio of foreign construction projects.Editor/Baohongying