Plants in Turkey and Bangladesh part of Moscow’s overseas portfolio

Russia is providing four units for the Akkuyu nuclear station in Turkey. Courtesy Atomstroyexport.

Russia’s Atomstroyexport has completed concreting of the inner containment domes for two of its overseas nuclear new-build projects, Akkuyu-1 in Turkey and Rooppur-2 in Bangladesh, parent company Rosatom said in two separate statements.

The dome is part of the reactor building’s physical and hermetic protection system, which is designed to withstand high external and internal pressures and protect against radiation release.

The Akkuyu and Rooppur nuclear power stations will both use Russia’s VVER-1200 pressurised water reactor technology. Four units are being deployed on Turkey’s southern coast near Mersin and two in Bangladesh, about 150 km from the capital Dhaka.

According to Rosatom, the VVER-1200 reactor system design has a two-part containment – an external one to from physical influence and impact and an inner one to secure the hermetic tightness around the core reactor equipment and piping.

Rosatom said finalising the construction of the inner containment domes consumed about 3,200 cubic metres of concrete at each of the two sites.

In March, Russia completed the concreting of the containment building at Rooppur-1, while in April, a first nuclear fuel batch was delivered to the Akkuyu site.

Construction for Rooppur-1 and -2 started in 2017 and 2018, and for the four Akkuyu units in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022 respectively.