Rosatom starts negotiations with Turkey for second nuclear power plant
Russia started negotiations to build a second nuclear power plant in Turkey’s northern city of Sinop, Rosatom CEO Alexey Likachev said, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu citing from an interview in Russia’s state TV Rossiya-24.
The Sinop plant will be Rosatom’s second nuclear facility after Akkuyu, which has been under-construction for the last twelve years in Turkey’s southern Mersin province, and expected to launch its first reactor next year.
Akkuyu plant, when finished, will provide up to 10% of Turkey's energy needs and will continue to be operated and managed by Rosatom for several decades.
Likhachev said that the Sinop site is suitable for the construction of a large-scale plant with four power units.
He also revealed that talks with Turkish business partners have begun to form technological alliances and to launch an investment policy to shape the Turkish energy market, Anadolu said.
Construction plans with Japan failed in 2018
Sinop has long been considered a suitable site for a nuclear power plant by Turkey’s government.
In 2013, Turkey signed a $22 billion deal with Japan over for the construction of the Sinop nuclear power plant but in 2018 the project was abandoned due to construction costs having almost doubled to about $44 billion, largely because of post-Fukushima safety improvements and the fall in the value of the Turkish lira.
