Women engineers who made statements to the AA correspondent at the event held at Akkuyu NPP as part of International Women's Day on March 8 shared their experiences of working at Türkiyes' first nuclear power plant.
Senanur Duyar, technical and industrial safety status control specialist at Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, explained that every step on site is carefully checked in accordance with international standards to create a strong “safety culture” at the power plant, saying: “Our goal is not only to detect non-conformities, but also to ensure that these non-conformities are eliminated, while at the same time explaining the reason and ensuring that they do not reoccur later. For this reason, our work is progressing very intensively.” he said.
Duyar stated that the project is a source of great pride for him, emphasizing that the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is not only an energy investment but also contributes to the formation of a new sector.
Emphasizing that they had built a new sector beyond building a nuclear power plant in Turkey, Duyar said: “There were no such developed roads or new jobs in this region. We needed these when building the power plant, and our environment began to develop with us. Being a woman among them is of course a great source of pride.” he said.
Emphasizing that attention to details is crucial in the nuclear sector and that their tasks require high attention and concentration, Senanur Duyar said, “There is no small detail in our work. Every detail is extremely important and we carry out our work with this awareness.” he said.
Addressing society's prejudices against women being unable to participate in difficult professions, Duyar continued:
“There is a general opinion that women cannot do difficult jobs. No, they can do it very well. I have improved as an expert, as you can see, I stand before you today and I am proud. I want young women to follow me and share this pride with them. I founded this company from scratch. Do not give up on any difficulty you encounter, keep going, learn, develop and grow, make it beautiful.”
The number of female employees in the power plant is quite high
Yağmur Küçük, Chemical Analyst for the 2nd Circuit of Akkuyu NPP, said that working as an engineer at Türkiye's first nuclear power plant brings her pride and great responsibility.
Pointing out that the number of female employees in the chemistry field is quite high, Küçük said: “The number of women in the chemistry department is higher than that of men, and the laboratory area where we work is a very suitable environment. I do not recommend that anyone express prejudice, we all work in unity here.” He said his words.
Scenarios relating to non-standard situations are tested in regular exercises
Elif Uğur, Chief Expert of Akkuyu NPP Licensing Support Unit, also noted that the power plant was built with advanced technology and all scenarios were analyzed in detail during the design phase.
Uğur explained that active and passive security systems are designed to work together and that thanks to this structure, a strong security infrastructure has been created against possible non-standard situations.
Berrin Emel Baran, a specialist at the technical diagnostic laboratory of Akkuyu NPP, pointed out that the plant personnel have been technically trained and tested possible non-standard situation scenarios with regular exercises, saying: “We are prepared for a possible disaster or non-standard situation scenario. There are constant exercises that we are constantly working on.” he said.
Emphasizing that he works in a crucial unit for coordination between teams, Baran said: “We are in constant communication with other units. We exchange data openly and honestly. All data is recorded anyway. All data is documented. These are very important in the nuclear power plant.” gave his assessment.
Baran emphasized that there is no gender discrimination at the power plant and that knowledge, experience and a sense of responsibility are important: “Anyone who can take responsibility and trust their knowledge can work here. Most women work in very important positions. This is a good example for our young girls.” he said.
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