Rosatom, Turkey, Indicate Akkuyu Project Still On

Russian nuclear power giant Rosatom said Wednesday that the withdrawal of an investor group from the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project would not derail construction of the envisioned 4,800-MW, four-reactor facility that would be the country's inaugural nuclear power plant.

RosatomAlthough the initial three-company domestic consortium backed down, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said this week that construction was still slated to begin this year. He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be present at a construction launch ceremony, which he said would occur in the near future.

We are commencing the construction process on the Akkuyu power plant this year. We plan to lay the foundation for the plant with Putin,” Power magazine quoted Erdogan as saying.

Reuters reported that Rosatom had been talking with four new companies to serve as domestic investors, although more recent reports have Rosatom talking with government owned power company EUAS as a potential domestic investor in the Akkuyu plant. On March 21, Rosatom countered concerns over delays with a statement that said the corporation “categorically rejects speculation that any changes to the composition of the local ownership structure in the Akkuyu project have any bearing on the timetable of its implementation.”

The first of four VVER-1200 reactors is scheduled for start up in 2023. 

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