Erdoğan: Sinop Nuclear Plant Project Halted

*The President and his wife Emine Erdoğan today arrived in Japan for the G20 summit. (Photo:AA)

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"We are not at the desired point on the Sinop nuclear power plant project," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told daily Nikkei.

Erdoğan arrived in Japan today for the G20 summit in Osaka, where he will meet with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump.

Responding to a question that says, "Feasibility studies show that the cost of a proposed nuclear power plant in the city of Sinop is more than double the initial estimate, and the Japanese-backed project has been halted," Erdoğan said, "The feasibility study report and cost analysis, which is prepared by the Japanese side, was examined by our relevant institutions in detail. We met a picture that is not compatible with our initial agreement in terms of both cost and project calendar."

Japan's media reported multiple times in the last year on the problems with the project. The Nikkei claimed in December 2018 that the Mitsubishi company from Japan was preparing to withdraw from the project due to increasing costs. The report was neither denied nor confirmed by the government of Turkey.

The cost of the construction jumped from 18 billion US dollars 40 44 billion and the operations came to a halt, the Nikkei reported at the time.

The agreement for the nuclear plant in the Black Sea province between Turkey and Japan was signed in May 2013. The first part was projected to be completed in 2023 and the power plant was planned to be fully operational in 2017.

Erdoğan however, said that they could work with Japan other areas, namely, "clean coal, renewable energy, R&D work, developing human resources and transportation projects."

"We have a full resolve to deepen our cooperation with Japan on energy," he said. (PT/VK)