The Kommersant in Chernozemie journalists visited the site of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (Republic of Turkey). The visit was held in the framework of the Atoms of knowledge: from Novovoronezh to the Akkuyu NPP international media project.

Voronezh journalists toured the construction site of the first Turkish nuclear power plant, examined the foundation of the reactor unit of the first of the four power units. They also visited the nearby village of Buyukedzheli, which is home to about a thousand people.

During the trip, local residents asked Russian journalists about how the construction of a nuclear power plant had affected the economic development of the Voronezh Oblast and Novovoronezh social life. Local entrepreneurs – cafe owners, olive processors – are counting on a quick increase in the number of workers at the construction site. They are expecting for new customers and buyers, and in the future they hope for uninterrupted power supply. At this moment there are rolling blackouts in the Gulnar area.

Oleg Kharseev, a photo correspondent for the Kommersant in Chernozemie newspaper, “One time, there were two villages with several hundred farms at the area of modern Novovoronezh. Now it is a modern city with a developed infrastructure and a population of 32 thousand people. At the same time, Novovoronezh NPP is the 2nd in the rating of taxpayers in the region.” He also noted that it had been easy and interesting to work at the Akkuyu site and in the populated areas of Turkey, “People are open and smiling, they themselves wanted to become project heroes. We simply did not stand in their way.”

Andrei Tsvetkov, the editor-in-chief of the Kommersant in Chernozemie newspaper, shared his impressions, “Our newspaper has been observing the construction of new power units of domestic design since 2007, since the sixth unit of Novovoronezh NPP has just begun to be erected. We remember the different stages of this grand building. In Turkey, we saw how the experience of Russian nuclear energy workers is being implemented on a completely different landscape, in different climatic conditions, taking into account the local mentality.”

At the end of November 2018, Turkish journalists plan a return visit to Novovoronezh NPP.

The Atoms of knowledge: from Novovoronezh to the Akkuyu NPP international media project is implemented in the partnership with Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant, a branch of Rosenergoatom JSC, AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC, Kommersant Chernozemye Publishing House and Turkish Airlines.