Foundation Work for Two Buildings at Akkuyu NPP Power Unit 2 Has Been Completed

At the Akkuyu NPP’s second power unit, concrete pouring work for the foundation slabs of the reactor building and turbine building has been completed.

The concrete pouring process for the foundation slab is meticulously monitored; first, the quality of the concrete mix is evaluated in the laboratory. Then, at the on-site laboratory, the temperature, slump, and density of a concrete sample taken from the mixer truck are checked to determine whether the concrete is suitable for pouring.

To ensure the reactor building’s foundation slab hardens to the maximum extent possible, 2,451 metric tons of reinforcing steel were laid in the foundation. This is equivalent to one-third of the weight of all the metal structures in the Eiffel Tower. A metal framework is used to hold the rebar in its designed position. A total of 17,000 cubic meters of concrete was poured into the foundation slab, which has an area of 6,864 square meters, a height of 2.6 meters, and a depth of over 8 meters.

The completed reactor building weighs approximately 470,000 metric tons and will be capable of safely supporting a weight equal to twice that of the world’s largest ocean-going passenger ship. Additionally, the reactor building’s foundation slab possesses high seismic resistance.

While concrete pouring work was underway on the reactor building’s foundation slab, work to construct the turbine building’s foundation was also continuing.

The turbine building, where foundation work is underway, houses systems and equipment related to power generation, such as the turbine unit, a degasser (a device designed to remove gas impurities from water), feedwater pumps, and auxiliary equipment.

In the turbine building, which is part of the secondary circuit, the thermal energy of steam is converted into rotational energy and then into electrical energy in the generator. Although there is no radioactive environment in the secondary cycle or the turbine building, the safety requirements for the structure are as high as they are at any nuclear power plant facility.

3,200 metric tons of rebar were placed in the turbine building’s foundation; 363 supporting frames were used to provide additional strength to the foundation slab.

The concrete slab has an area of 5,814 m² and a depth ranging from -12.5 meters to -7.1 meters. The height of the foundation slab varies between 5.4 meters and 2 meters.