Installation of Passive Heat Removal System Completed for Unit 1 of Turkey's Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

Rosatom recently announced that the installation of the Passive Heat Removal System (PHRS) for Unit 1 of Turkey's Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant has been completed. This means the unit is now equipped with a critical safety system and is ready for the commissioning phase.

According to reports, the installed equipment includes approximately 90 components such as heat exchangers, guide vanes, air ducts, and electromagnetic devices, which were installed in stages in the reactor building dome area. The Passive Heat Removal System is one of the key safety systems of a nuclear power unit, designed to remove residual heat from the reactor core under specific operating conditions.

The system consists of four independent channels, each corresponding to one steam generator. Its operation does not rely on external power supply or require manual intervention; instead, it utilizes natural circulation to achieve heat removal: external air enters the heat exchangers, is heated, rises, and then returns to the atmosphere, thereby continuing to remove heat from the reactor core even in the event of a complete station blackout.

The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, located on Turkey's southern coast, is the world's first nuclear power plant built under the "Build-Own-Operate" (BOO) model. The project plans to construct four VVER-1200 reactor units with a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts. The passive safety systems adopted in the project are designed to enhance the units' safety assurance capabilities under complex conditions such as natural disasters and power supply interruptions, thereby reducing the risk of severe accidents.