IEA Urges Turkey To ‘Proceed Urgently’ With Adoption Of Nuclear Law

3 Oct (NucNet) The government of Turkey should “proceed urgently” towards the adoption of its draft nuclear law, leading to the full administrative independence of the nuclear regulatory authority outside the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK), a report by the International Energy Agency says. The report, ‘Energy Policies Of IEA Countries: Turkey’, says the draft law on nuclear energy covers basic principles of nuclear safety, authorisation and enforcement responsibilities including establishment of an independent regulatory body and separation of the non-regulatory function of TAEK. Before construction of commercial nuclear plants starts, the government should adopt the new law and ensure the full administrative independence of the regulator, the report says. This needs to be supported by adequate human resources to assess, monitor and evaluate the projects, and increase collaboration with international competent organisations through peer reviews and technical support. Turkey must provide education, training and R&D programmes for Turkish specialists, the report says. The government must also ensure “from the early stages” that information and public participation are included in the development of the nuclear programme. Turkey does not have any commercial nuclear reactors, but is planning to build two stations – Akkuyu and Sinop – with four units each. Turkey has signed intergovernmental agreements with Russia and Japan for the construction Akkuyu and Sinop respectively. At the Akkuyu site, which will have four Russian VVER-1200 units, preparations are most advanced and will meet plans to have the units online by 2023 with construction beginning in 2017, the report says. The project is relying on a build-own-operate (BOO) model with Russia. Feasibility studies are continuing at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Itochu Corporation for the construction of the Sinop station, with four Generation-III Atmea-1 PWRs. The report is online: http://bit.ly/2doMi74