On March 8, Ankara Chamber of Industry and Russian institutions of continuing professional education, i.e. the Rosatom Central Institute For Continuing Education And Training (ROSATOM-CICE&T) and the Training Center for Personnel of the nuclear Industry Construction Sector (TCP NICS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of training of human resources for the construction of nuclear power facilities of the Republic of Turkey.
The Memorandum was signed by Yuri Seleznev, the rector of the ROSATOM-CICE&T, and Viktor Opekunov, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the TCP NICS, from the Russian side, and Dr. Yavuz Cabbar, the Secretary General of the Chamber, from the Turkish side. The signing took place on the sidelines of the 4th International Nuclear Power Plants Summit, which is being held in Istanbul.
The Memorandum defines basis for interaction in such areas as carrying out research, education and training in nuclear science and technology to support human resources development for existing and future NPPs and nuclear research facilities in Turkey; providing of organizations involved in constructing nuclear power facilities in Turkey with qualified human resources; development and implementation of modern approaches in managing knowledge and competence in the field of nuclear power technologies, etc.
The Memorandum is aimed at providing skilled personnel for localization of construction of nuclear power facilities in the territory of the Turkish Republic, including the organization of the educational process, providing the nuclear community with highly educated and experienced instructors as appropriate, developing qualification requirements for employees, determining the compliance and harmonizing personnel training levels of organizations participating in nuclear facilities construction pursuant to the Russian standards and requirements in terms of admission to the construction and installation works implementation. Cooperation within the framework of the Memorandum envisages exchange of educational materials, access of the Turkish side to training workshops and courses held by the Russian side, organization of joint meetings, symposiums, workshops, summer schools and / or internships, joint projects for engineering and consultative support, exchange of teachers and others.
The signing of the Memorandum was preceded by visits held to Rosatom Central Institute by representatives of Ankara Chamber of Industry in November 2016 and representatives of Turkish Nuclear Industry Association in February 2017.
"Due to its scale and high importance for the country's economy, nuclear power sector is a special industry, and the need to establish links between all the participants of the project goes without saying," Yury Seleznev said. “The participation of the national industry in the construction of a nuclear power plant, as well as any other nuclear power facility, enables the country to achieve a higher level of national technical development. At the same time, it is important to harmonize the standards and qualification requirements of the vendor country and the standards of the regulatory authorities of the country where nuclear power facilities’ construction is being implemented. I am sure that significant experience in this sphere gathered by Russian educational institutions will contribute to successful realization of nuclear infrastructure development being made by Turkey as well as localization of construction of nuclear power facilities in the Republic. Successful cases in Russian-Turkish cooperation in this sphere will be also useful for Russia and applicable for other newcomers in NPP construction based on VVER technologies”, he highlighted.
The project of the construction of Akkuyu, the first NPP in Turkey is being implemented on the basis of the Intergovernmental Agreement signed between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey in Ankara on May 12, 2010. NPP will have 4 power units with a capacity of 1200 MW each. Akkuyu NPP is a serial project of 3+ generation nuclear power plant based on the VVER-1200 design implemented at Novovoronezh NPP-2 (Russia, Voronezh Region).
In June 2016 the Turkish parliament adopted amendments in three laws that significantly simplify licensing procedures and documentation. In addition, in early February 2017, the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency approved the design parameters of the Akkuyu NPP site.
Akkuyu NPP is expected to produce around 35 billion kWh per year.
The peculiarity of the Сentral Institute of Rosatom is that on the basis of the agreements signed with the IAEA in 2011, the Institute provides training of human resources for the nuclear infrastructure of the newcomer countries in accordance with the Milestone Approach regarding all 19 elements which include “Involvement of industry" and "Ensuring supplies".