The leaders of Turkey and Russia marked the official start of work to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant on Tuesday, launching construction of the $20 billion Akkuyu power station in the southern province of Mersin.
In 2010, Moscow and Ankara signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation on the construction and operation of the Akkuyu NPP. The NPP’s four power units — which each have a capacity of 1,200 megawatts — are each expected to produce about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The project's total cost is about $20 billion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan marked the official start to construction of Akkuyu's first unit, watching by videolink from the Turkish capital Ankara.
The Akkuyu nuclear power plant, being built in Turkey by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, will cover 10 percent of the country's electric energy needs, will ensure Turkey's energy security, Erdoğan said Tuesday.
The parties are still trying to clear obstacles that impede the Akkuyu project as they seek the necessary permissions and finalize the partnership structure. Rosatom holds a majority share in the plant with 51 percent, while the remaining 49 percent stake was originally planned to be divided between a Turkish consortium of three contracting conglomerates under the name Cengiz-Kolin-Kalyon (CKK).
Kolin and Kalyon recently decided to pull out of the project, citing an inability to agree on commercial terms.
Ankara included nuclear power plants and licensed warehousing investments as "priority investments" in May 2017, that benefit from state aid.
