Turkey talking to Russia and China for more nuclear plants

Unsplash/Lukas Lehotsky

Turkey is holding talks with Russia, South Korea and China to construct its second and third nuclear power plants.

It is ready to build the second nuclear plant in the northern Sinop province, state-run Anadolu Agency reported, citing Salih Sari, head of the Turkish energy and natural resources ministry’s general directorate of nuclear energy and international projects.

The country is also in discussions with China about constructing a planned nuclear power plant in the Thrace region and is surveying sites for a fourth, Sari told a conference in Istanbul.

“We are also in close contact with US, British and French companies for small modular reactors,” Sari added.

Meanwhile, Russian state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom is working on completing the construction project of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant on time.

“Rosatom must commission the plant’s first power unit within seven years of receiving a construction permit,” Russian news agency TASS reported Akkuyu Nuclear, director for construction and production, Denis Sezemin as saying.

“We acquired the permit in 2018, implying that the first Akkuyu power unit will go into commercial operation in 2025. Understanding Turkey’s power needs, we are doing everything we can to meet them and bring this event closer,” he added.

Rosatom holds a majority stake in Akkuyu Nuclear, the company responsible for designing, building, maintaining, operating and decommissioning the first nuclear plant in Turkey.

Turkey and Russia signed an agreement in 2010 to build the plant in Mersin province on the southern Mediterranean coastline.

The plant is scheduled to see the first of its four reactors go online in the first half of this year, Daily Sabah newspaper reported in April.

Turkey needs to generate 11 percent of electricity through nuclear energy by 2035 and 29 percent by 2053 to reach its climate goals.