Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said 15-20% of roughly 2,000 system tests at Akkuyu Unit 1 are complete, with trial electricity generation expected before the end of 2026.
Unit 1 of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant under construction in Mersin has entered the final stretch of its commissioning programme. In remarks made on 4 August 2026 on a TRT Haber broadcast, relayed by Pravda.ru, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said that 15-20% of a programme of roughly 2,000 separate system tests at the unit has been completed, and that once the tests are finished, trial operation and first electricity generation are expected before the end of the year.
Autumn 2026: Fuel Loading and Start-Up
Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, speaking to TASS on 30 June 2026 in comments also reported by Hürriyet Daily News, said hot tests would begin in July and that, if successful, fuel loading and the start-up of the unit were planned for autumn 2026. According to World Nuclear News, construction works at Unit 1 have been completed; 163 dummy fuel assemblies have been loaded into the reactor and cold hydraulic tests began at the end of June 2026.
Main Equipment Deliveries Completed for All Four Units
In parallel with commissioning, an important equipment milestone was passed: on 3 June 2026 the four steam generators for Unit 4 were delivered to the site. According to the announcement by Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, the generators — each weighing about 340 tonnes, 14 metres long and 4 metres in diameter — were shipped from the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk over a sea route of roughly 3,000 kilometres. As noted by NucNet, this delivery completed the shipment of all main reactor-hall equipment for all four units.
Project at a Glance
- Location: Mersin, Türkiye
- Reactors: 4 x VVER-1200
- Total capacity: 4,800 MW
- Expected contribution: around 10% of Türkiye's electricity needs at full capacity
Voltim's Perspective
As Voltim Logistics, headquartered in Mersin, we closely follow the Akkuyu NPP rising in our home city and the logistics dimension of the project. The delivery of 340-tonne steam generators over the Black Sea-Mediterranean sea route is a concrete illustration of the scale of nuclear component logistics and the importance of the Türkiye-Russia corridor. For ongoing site supply and project shipments during the commissioning period, we provide solutions in this corridor through our nuclear project transportation and project logistics services.