Turkey Wants To Make Decision Soon On Akkuyu Nuclear Station, Says Minister

11 Oct (NucNet): Turkey has told the new director-general of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, that it wants to make a decision soon on plans for a new nuclear station in Turkey, but has stopped short of giving a timetable. Mr Likhachev, who took over at Rosatom last week after his predecessor Sergei Kiriyenko was appointed first deputy chief of President Vladimir Putin’s administration, held talks with Turkey’s energy minister Berat Albayrak on the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul. Mr Albayrak said “it is still too early” to say when a licence for construction of the planned Akkuyu station, near Mersin on the country’s southern Mediterranean coast, can be issued. But he said nuclear power is “extremely important” for Turkey in terms of reducing its energy dependence. “Therefore, I think that the question of the issuance of this licence will be decided at an accelerated pace,” he said. 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. The Akkuyu site will have four Russian VVER-1200 units. According to a recent International Energy Agency (IEA) report preparations are advanced at Akkuyu and construction will begin in 2017 with the units online by 2023. The project is relying on a build-own-operate (BOO) model with Russia. The IEA said 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.