Turkey Vows Plans For Its Second Nuclear Power Plant

Turkey’s Parliament ratified an international treaty to establish a nuclear power plant in the northern province of Sinop. While this became Turkey’s second plan for a nuclear power plant, the ratification of the treaty yesterday coincided with the power outage across the country. 

During his trip to Slovakia yesterday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also mentioned of a third project. 

“With the two projects in the north [Sinop] and south [Akkuyu], Turkey will have a nuclear capacity of 9500 MW. And maybe a third one. We need to take the necessary steps as Turkey’s need for energy is rising every day,” he said. 

Turkey’s first nuclear power plant is expected to be built in Akkuyu in the southern district of Mersin. 

To be built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Itochu Corp. From Japan and GDF Suez from France, the second power plant in Sinop is expected to have a capacity of 4,800 MW. The construction of the power plant will cost 22 billion dollars. 

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Areva firms will build the reactors. 

On the other hand, Turkey’s nuclear venture is highly criticized by pro-environment organizations and local residents. 

“Reactors will use the sea water and drain its back after processing. Due to this process, seals and fish die in various power plants in California,” Prof. Hayrettin Kılıç from Anti-Nuclear Platform [Nükleer Karşıtı Platform] said during a conference last year. 

“All marine life will end,” he added. (YY/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.