Mr. Berat Albayrak, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources during his visit to the Akkuyu site in February, declared that Akkuyu NPP is expected to be operational by 2023 despite series of delays:
Construction:
The results of the hydrotechnical construction tender, which was opened by Akkuyu Nuclear, supposed be completed on February 15th , has also been postponed to March 31st .
Mersin Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NES) project was scheduled to start constructions this summer. However, Rosatom specified that the necessary technical documents of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) will be completed in October.
EIA:
Akkuyu Nuclear was planning to take the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, which is mandatory for NES, at the latest by the end of 2013 but the report could only be received by the end of 2014.
Commissioning and Operation
The first unit of the plant was expected to be operational in 2019, but this date was shifted to 2020.
The authorities report that the decline of oil prices slowed down the transfer of resources from Russia, and the envisaged transactions for the NPP could not be completed in time and that the administrative and legal processes in Turkey could not be accomplished.
