Turkey to start tender for 3rd nuke plant in 2016-17

ANKARA

Turkey wants to make headway in developing Turkey’s third nuclear power plant by completing the tender process in 2016-17, Turkey’s energy minister said Thursday

Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak said that he does not see any problem with the tender process for the third nuclear power plant that plans to be constructed in the northern region of Turkey.

“We also want to finalize the tender process for the third nuclear power plant in 2016 or by 2017 at the latest. Work on finding good companies and a suitable geographical location for construction is still ongoing. Igneada, [in the Kirklareli province of Turkey’s Thrace region] as mentioned before, is one of the possible locations for the project,” Albayrak said.

Turkey’s first nuclear power plant Akkuyu, in the province of Mersin in the Mediterranean region, is under construction and its four units will have a capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

He underlined that Russia and the responsible company for building the Akkuyu plant, Rosatom, are currently working on the project.

“We hope that the plant will be built and be a model plant in nuclear energy for Turkey,” he stated.

Turkey's proposed second nuclear plant in Sinop in northern Turkey is planned to have 4,480 megawatts in a four unit structure.