In 2010 Russia and Turkey signed an agreement for the construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant which would consist of four nuclear reactors with an total capacity of forty eight hundred megawatts. The plant was to be operational by 2023. The Akkuyu plant is located in the Turkish province of Mersin. It is the first of three plants that Turkey is planning in order to reduce its dependency on importing foreign power. The estimated cost of the plant was twenty billion dollars. Rosatom, the Russian nuclear firm, was tapped to construct the plant. The plant will produce thirty five billion kilowatt-hours a year when completed. It will be licensed for a service life of sixty years.
A second nuclear power plant is slated to be constructed by a French-Japanese consortium in the city of Sinop near the Black Sea. A third nuclear power plant will be constructed in the Igneada district of the Turkish province of Kirklareli.
Cengiz Holdings is a Turkish construction firm that works of major energy infrastructure projects. They are currently building a thirteen hundred megawatt coal plant in the Turkish province of Canakkale. Cengiz Holdings is involved in the Akkuyu power plant project. They recently submitted the winning bid for construction of the Akkuyu power plant water intake for the cooling system. Rosatom wants to make use of Cengiz Holding's experience in constructing power plants.
When Turkish air defenses shot down a Russia fighter on the border with Syria in November of 2015, there was a serious chill in Russian-Turkish relations. Russia took economic retaliation on Turkey, including a suspension of work on the Akkuyu power plant. Cengiz Holdings has offices in Russia. They decided to continue to operate those offices in spite of the problems between Turkey and Russia. They assumed that normal relations would be restored quickly and that work on the power plant would go forward. This was a wise decision on their part and the power plant project is once again progressing.
In April of 2016 Rosatom decided to sell up to forty nine percent of the Akkuyu power plant to Turkish investors. Cengiz Holdings is unable to provide a share of the financing and is seeking to partner with other Turkish firms which will assist in financing the project. Cengiz Holding says that they need to be involved in the financing because they need to be shareholders in order to take part in the management of the project.
Turkey is in a delicate position with respect to international relations. Russia is a major trading partner and a neighbor. On the other hand, Turkey is a member of NATO with strong ties to Europe and the U.S. The current conflict in Syria has brought Turkey into confrontation with Russia. Recently, there has been tension between Turkey and NATO over the Syrian refugee crisis. Erdogan, the President of Turkey has been walking a tightrope playing the NATO and the U.S. against Russia. It will be interesting to see how successful Erdogan will be in the game of international politics.
Artist's concept of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (Image: AEP):
