Rosatom begins negotiations with Turkish partners on possible participation in another NPP project in country - CEO

MOSCOW. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Rosatom has begun discussing with partners the details of possible participation in a new nuclear power plant project in Turkey, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

"The president of Turkey voiced the place name Sinop, a fairly well-known site to all nuclear experts of the world, on the Black Sea, which is, on the whole, enormously attractive in terms of the placement of a large, powerful four-unit nuclear plant," Likhachev said.

"We've commenced negotiations with our business partners, Turkish business partners, on forming approaches in terms of technological alliances, in terms of investment policy, and in terms of forming this Turkish energy market taking into account the future existence of a major nuclear power plant," he said.

Last autumn, the leaders of Russia and Turkey discussed the possibility of building new nuclear power plant units. According to the Anadolu agency, the Turkish president announced that during his talks with the Russian president, in addition to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the possibility of joint construction of two more nuclear power plants in Turkey was raised. A source close to the negotiations told Interfax at the time that two sites in Sinop and Trakya (Thrace) were being considered for construction of a new nuclear power plant.

At present, Rosatom is building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey, which is being constructed according to the BOO scheme, with the Russian side as the owner of the foreign nuclear power plant. Rosatom companies now own almost 100% in the capital of Akkuyu Nuclear. The cost of construction for the NPP project is about $22 billion.

The pouring of the first concrete for the first unit of Akkuyu NPP took place on April 3, 2018. The unit is scheduled to be commissioned in 2023, when the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey will be marked. The pouring of first concrete for Unit 2 of the Akkuyu NPP took place at the end of June 2020. Construction of Unit 3 of the nuclear power plant began on March 10, 2021. In July 2022, Rosatom began construction of Unit 4 of the Akkuyu NPP.

In early August of this year, Akkuyu Nuclear reported that the management of the Akkuyu NPP project in Turkey decided to reorganize the list of entities participating in the construction works. In particular, the contract with IC Ictas Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. was terminated and an agreement with another Turkish company, TSM Enerji Insaat Sanayi Limited Sirketi (TSM), was concluded. At the same time, IC Ictas did not agree with the decision and planned to challenge it in London arbitration.

A number of Turkish media outlets subsequently reported problems at the site. The Cumhuriyet newspaper reported that the former contractor had obtained a temporary ban through a Turkish court to protect its assets at the site, but encountered a violation by the Russian side. Another Turkish media outlet, Duvar, reported that the project was suspended after the change of contractor and that some employees could not receive their salaries. For its part, Akkuyu Nuclear said that key work was on schedule and "any information published in media and social networks about Akkuyu Nuclear allegedly initiating layoffs or sending employees on forced leave is not true and is distributed by anonymous sources for the sole purpose of discrediting the Akkuyu NPP project.

In late September, it was disclosed that the former contractor for Akkuyu NPP construction in Turkey, IC Ictas Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., will return to work at the station, and will work on all units except the first [its contractor will remain TSM Enerji Insaat Sanayi Limited Sirketi, with which Rosatom entered into contract after termination of agreements with the previous company].