Following the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, Turkey is planning to build two more plants at Sinop and Thrace.
lparslan Bayraktar, Turkey’s energy minister, has said that the first nuclear unit at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant should be launched by the end of the year, while negotiations with Russia, China and South Korea on the construction of two more nuclear power plants continue.
According to Bayraktar, there are still issues relating to sanctions that need to be overcome, but the aim is to produce the first electricity from the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in 2024, with all four units scheduled for completion by 2028.
Turkey aims to install 20GW of nuclear capacity by 2050. Akkuyu would provide a proportion of this, but a second nuclear power plant will also need to be established. The country is in talks with Russia and South Korea to build this in Sinop.
According to World Nuclear News, Bayraktar said that Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom “already have serious experience from the Akkuyu project, so we want to carry it on to Sinop, as well. Our negotiations will continue with both [Russia and South Korea].”
Based in the southern province of Mersin, the 4.8GW Akkuyu facility will be Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Under the build-own-operate model, Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors. Construction of the first unit began in 2018. In addition to plans for the second nuclear power plant at Sinop, there are plans for a third plant in the Thrace region in the north-west of Turkey.
Source: Power Technology
