The building of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu, will begin on Tuesday, Anadolu agency reported.
The power plant, located in the southern province of Mersin on the Mediterranean coast, will be built by Russian State Nuclear Energy Agency Rosatom and will compose of four units each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.
In the first phase of construction, two units are planned with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts. The plant, with a total investment cost of about $20 billion, will have a working life of 8,000 hours per year.
According to preliminary evaluations, 35-40 percent of the plant’s construction could be undertaken by Turkish companies potentially providing $6-$8 billion of added value to the nation’s economy.
The Akkuyu NPP will produce 35 billion kilowatts of electricity at full capacity, which will cover more than 10 percent of Turkey’s electricity needs, or equivalent to the electricity demand of Istanbul.
Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak has called the Akkuyu nuclear power plant “Turkey’s 60-year-old dream”. Speaking to reporters Monday, Albayrak added that the construction of the Akkuyu plant is one of the priority projects for his government.
The plant has an operational date set for the first reactor by 2023 while it is expected to be up and running at full capacity by 2025.
Financing is provided by Russian investors, with 93% from a Rosatom subsidiary. Up to 49% of shares may be sold later to other investors. Potential investors are Turkish companies Park Teknik and Elektrik Uretim.
