Erdogan: Ankara will not repeat the mistake of EU countries that suspended their nuclear power plants

ISTANBUL, 30 March – RIA Novosti. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declarationIt was stated that Ankara will not repeat the mistake of the European countries that stopped their nuclear power plants in connection with the energy crisis and then decided to restart them.

Earlier, Erdogan had said that a nuclear fuel shipment was planned to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin on April 27. He did not ignore the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend the ceremony. RIA Novosti was previously told that from the moment fresh nuclear fuel is delivered at Akkuyu Nuclear design company, Akkuyu NPP will become a nuclear facility and Turkey will become a nuclear power country.

Evaluating the intention of the alliance of the six opposition parties to revise the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, which is being built with the Russian Federation, Erdogan said “the opposition does not want to leave a stone on a stone”.

Erdogan had previously said that the opposition played into the hands of the West, and announced his intention to revise the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project and the state’s defense industry investments.

An alliance of six opposition parties said in its election manifesto published in January that it aims to “review the current status and related details of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, as well as any rights or obligations arising outside the power plant agreement”.

Akkuyu NPP, built with the participation of Russia, is Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. After the commissioning of all four units to be equipped with advanced Russian VVER-1200 reactors, the station is planned to produce approximately 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year and meet 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs. It is also the first project implemented in the global nuclear industry according to the “build-own-operate” model. Its cost is about 20 billion dollars. Akkuyu meets all modern international safety requirements in the nuclear industry.

The construction of the first power unit of Akkuyu NPP began in April 2018, the second – in April 2020, the third – in March 2021, the fourth – in July 2022.

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz instructed to establish a legal basis for the continued operation of the three German nuclear power plants Isar-2, Neckarwestheim-2 and Emsland until April 15, 2023. It was originally planned that Germany would give up nuclear power in 2022. At the start of the year, three of the last six nuclear power plants in the country had already been shut down.

At the same time, Scholz assured in October that the operation of nuclear power plants in Germany would not be extended beyond April 15, which would mean the country’s final withdrawal from nuclear power.