Preventive measures aimed at countering the spread of coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) have been strengthened at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant construction site.
AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC set up the headquarters on the coronavirus response. Its meetings are held on a regular basis. All decisions taken are being transmitted to employees and must be implemented by all relevant units of the company and the contractors.
The following efforts are being undertaken at the Akkuyu NPP construction site.
- Regime of enhanced medical control is established; all employees have their temperature taken on a mandatory basis; in case of any signs of a cold-related symptoms employees are sent home, and then visited by a doctor.
- The number of buses bringing employees to the site and transporting the employees on the site is increased in order to provide the required social distance between the passengers;
- To reduce concentration of employees in the canteens, dividing marking is applied; the number of seats is reduced, and the open hours of the canteens are prolonged; ready meals are served in individual disposable packaging; canteen employees on the site wear medical face masks and gloves.
- All common facilities and working areas have been equipped with sanitizer dispensers.
- Dormitories and office premises undergo disinfection.
- Posters featuring the means of personal and collective protection against infection have been placed in offices and working areas.
Units of AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC engaged in the measures, that is, the administrative and maintenance service and the occupational safety, health, and personnel protection department work under the regime of high alert.
AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC has ordered that all contractors operating at the Akkuyu NPP construction site should ensure implementation of all measures introduced by the company.
AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC and the contractors have drawn up a list of employees in charge of continuous implementation of preventive measures on a permanent basis including days-off.
"Under the current circumstances, the primary objectives for us are to preserve the health of all employees involved in the construction of the nuclear power plant and minimize the impact of the stressful epidemiological situation on the project. We are doing our best to protect employees’ health. Preventive measures are being taken everywhere - in common areas, on corporate vehicles, in office and industrial premises, in dormitories where employees live," said Alexey Frolov, Head of Operations to Combat the Spread of COVID-19, Director of AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC for GR and International Cooperation. "Currently, there are no COVID-19-infected employees of AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC or contractors. The situation is under control. The construction and installation work at the Akkuyu NPP site is underway in a routine mode, subject to all necessary safety measures and existing schedules."
In order to enhance epidemiological safety at the Akkuyu NPP construction site, meetings involving personal presence or employees’ circulation between the site and other offices of the company in Mersin and Ankara are restricted.
In accordance with Circular Letter No. 2020/3 of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Turkey, the Company has canceled all public events and business trips except for the urgent ones. Upon return from business trips abroad, the employees are being transferred to remote working mode from home for a period of at least two weeks. AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC is being guided by the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other government agencies of the Republic of Turkey. The company is fully prepared to strengthen the measures to counter the spread of infection, including quarantine restrictions, if they are announced in Turkey.
AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC is taking all necessary steps to minimize the negative impact of the epidemiological crisis on the work to build the first nuclear power plant in the Republic of Turkey and to ensure that the obligations to the Turkish side are fully met within the time frames stipulated by the Intergovernmental Agreement. The Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom is closely following the situation around the COVID-19 epidemic in the countries where the company is operating, and is taking all necessary measures to protect the health of employees and ensure the safety of both operating nuclear facilities and those under construction.