Nuclear fuel to be delivered to Akkuyu on April 27

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* Ecology platforms are organizing a campaign to warn the public about the accelerated step. "We believe that this is a political move. The plant will not operate with the delivering of the fuel because its construction has not been completed," they note and say, "A possible disaster will create pollution in the Mediterranean with cross-border effects."

* Russia's President Vladimir Putin may visit Turkey on April 27 for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant opening, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on March 29 in a TV program for the plant that is being constructed by Russia's Rosatom. 

* Rosatom's Director General Alexei Likhachev had said earlier that nuclear fuel would be delivered to Akkuyu "this spring," after which "Akkuyu NPP site will receive the status of a nuclear power facility," with construction to be completed in the third quarter and then "proceed to commissioning." Then, within a few months, [they would] test equipment and fuel directly in the reactor. "It's an ambitious schedule, but we stick to it rigorously," Likhachev had said. 

The East Mediterranean Environment Platform (DAÇE) started a petition and they are collecting signatures against the first nuclear fuel to be delivered to the Akkuyu plant on April 27, 2023.

President and Chairperson of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in the parliamentary group meeting of his party on March 29, "We will deliver fuel to our nuclear power plant in Akkuyu on April 27 and gain nuclear facility status to it officially."

Two weeks before elections

He also told in a TV program the same evening that Russia's President Vladimir Putin may visit Turkey on April 27 for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant opening.

The date he announced is two weeks before the presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in Turkey on May 14.

DAÇE started a petition campaign on Change.org. Reminding the Barcelona Convention, the platform stated that not only Turkey but all Mediterranean countries would be affected by a possible accident in Akkuyu.

"A political move"

"An accelerated nuclear step has been taken by the government before the elections. According to the announcement made by the President, nuclear fuel will be delivered to the Akkuyu plant on April 27.

"A possible disaster will create pollution in the Mediterranean with cross-border effects. Turkey will be responsible to all Mediterranean countries according to the Barcelona convention.

"Building a nuclear power plant in Turkey which has five times more seismic fault lines than the whole of the European continent is insane, and it is the biggest security and public health threat in the history of the Republic of Turkey."

The platform called on everyone to spread their campaign for the cancellation of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project.

(TY/PE)