Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said it expects that the first reactor of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey will reach the stage of self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction by the end of this calendar year.

On Friday, Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom’s CEO, said: “According to the schedule, the physical startup of the reactor will be carried out in the second half of December. We hope that by the end of the year, the first unit of Turkey’s power plant will move from the construction phase to the commissioning phase.”

In 2010, Russia and Turkey reached an agreement to build this power plant with four Russian reactors, and construction began in 2018. The first unit was supposed to be commissioned in 2023, but the project has repeatedly faced delays and administrative obstacles.

After Russia’s war against Ukraine began in 2022, problems with the project increased. Although Rosatom has not been directly targeted by Western sanctions, payment-related issues and other financial matters still

📷Akkuyu Nucleer PP/Anadolu via Getty Images