A Rosatom ship involved in Turkey's Akkuyu project was attacked by Ukrainian drones, sinking in the Black Sea while carrying civilian cargo.
The ship belonging to the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, which operates about one-third of the nuclear reactors built in the world and is responsible for the construction and financing of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant currently under construction in Mersin, Turkey, was attacked 130 miles off the port city of Novorossiysk.
ROSATOM'S SHIP BECAME A TARGET OF UKRAINIAN MARITIME DRONES
The container ship named 'Yanina', owned by FESCO, a subsidiary of Rosatom, was targeted by two maritime drones belonging to Ukraine.
Rosatom's General Director Aleksey Likhachev also made a statement confirming the attack. Likhachev noted that the ship was sailing in international waters and was carrying entirely civilian cargo, ranging from frozen food products to construction materials, and described the attack as 'piracy'.
THE 142-METER LONG SHIP SUNK IN THE BLACK SEA, CREW RESCUED
The ship, which joined the company's fleet in September 2021 and has a length of 142 meters and a width of 22 meters, sank in the Black Sea after being hit.
General Director Likhachev shared the information that 17 crew members on board were successfully rescued. The Rosatom President thanked the crew of the Delphinus ship, which was commanded by an Egyptian captain who went to the accident area despite the danger to rescue the crew.
ZELENSKY SHARED THE MOMENT OF THE ATTACK
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared the moment of the attack on the Rosatom ship on his social media account.
Zelensky stated that the struck ship was on the sanctions list, saying, 'Thanks to the precision of our Armed Forces, it was sent to the bottom.'
THE SIGNATURE FOR THE AKKUYU NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WAS PUT IN 2010
The first signatures for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project in Mersin, constructed by the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation Rosatom, were signed in 2010. Comprehensive construction works on-site began in April 2018 with the laying of the foundation for the first unit.
Four different nuclear reactor units are being constructed simultaneously.
The total cost, initially targeted at approximately 20 billion dollars, has risen to the 25 billion dollar range due to current revisions and additional costs.
It is planned that the massive project will meet approximately 10% of Turkey's electricity needs on its own. When the project reaches full capacity, it is expected to produce about 35 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
