One firm to be cut in 2nd nuke round

KAYSERİ - Doğan News Agency

By the end September, Turkey plans to eliminate one of the contenders for the construction of the nuclear plant in the Black Sea town of Sinop seen above. DHA photo

By the end of this month Turkey will narrow down its foreign bidders for the construction of a nuclear power plant on its Black Sea coast, eliminating one of the current bidders from the race and eventually selecting the winning bid by the end of the year, Turkey’s energy minister has said.

“For the second nuclear plant, China, South Korea, Japan and Canada are preparing their bids. One of these four will be eliminated by the end of this month, and by the end of the year the tender will be finalized,” Taner Yıldız told reporters yesterday in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri.

The tender process for the second nuclear plant was delayed due to the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, he said.

“We have to make the final decision [on the tender] by the end of this year to offset the time loss, because [falling] growth and private sector consumption figures necessitate this. We had a meeting yesterday with the chief executive officer of the Canadian nuclear firm Candu on the firm’s offer,” he said.

Turkey had already sealed an agreement with Russia for the construction of the country’s first nuclear plant in the Akkuyu region of the Mediterranean port city of Mersin.

The second plant is planned to be built in the northern city of Sinop in the Black Sea region.
A Russians state nuclear company is expected to begin constructing Akkuyu plant in 2013 with the construction of four nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts. The plant is estimated to cost at least $20 billion.

Thermal plant sell-off
Separately, the minister said four companies made a bid and received preliminary qualification status for the privatization of the Hamitabat thermal power plant in the northwestern province of Kırklareli.