No delay in Turkey's first nuke plant building: Rosatom

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The executer of Turkey’s first planned nuclear plant, Akkuyu NGS, has ruled out claims that the Environmental Impact Analysis Report will cause a delay in the construction schedule.

The Russian state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, was selected in 2010 to build and operate the Akkuyu nuclear plant in the southern province of Mersin, an investment worth around $20 billion. The plant will be made with four reactors and will have a total installed power of 4,800 megawatts (mW).

Akkuyu NGS submitted the report for the nuclear plant in Akkuyu to the Environment Ministry on July 9 for assessment. The ministry did not approve the report within a six-day period and did not send it to the inspection commission. The report was sent back to Akkuyu NGS on July 15 by the ministry, which said it had deficiencies in form and content and should be further developed in all aspects.

As the construction of the nuclear power plant in Akkuyu cannot be started without the environmental impact report, the process will last longer than the company’s schedule, which had planned to begin operations in Mersin-Akkuyu by 2019, officials said on July 30.

However, Rosatom said in a written statement that they would complete the gaps in the report by Aug. 15. “After completing the [required] regulations, the process of examination and assessment of the Environmental Impact Analysis Report will continue,” it said, stressing that no delay would be caused in the schedule of the project implementation.