Russian institutions, Ankara chamber sign deal to train employees for nuclear power plants

ISTANBUL

The Ankara Chamber of Industry and several Russian institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the training of workers for the construction of nuclear power facilities in southern Turkey.

The memorandum was signed by Yuri Seleznev, the rector of the Rosatom Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training (ROSATOM-CICE&T), Viktor Opekunov, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Training Center for Personnel of the Nuclear Industry Construction Sector (TCP NICS), and Yavuz Cabbar, the secretary-general of the Ankara chamber, according to a statement released March 9. 

The signing took place on the sidelines of the fourth International Nuclear Power Plants Summit, which is being held in Istanbul.

The memorandum defines the basis for interaction in such areas as conducting research, education and training in nuclear science and technology to support human resources development for existing and future nuclear power plants and nuclear research facilities in Turkey; the provision of organizations involved in constructing nuclear power facilities in Turkey with qualified human resources; and the development and implementation of modern approaches in managing knowledge and competence in the field of nuclear power technologies, among other facets, according to the statement. 

The deal is aimed at providing skilled personnel to ensure a higher domestic share in the construction of nuclear power facilities in Turkey.

“Due to its scale and high importance for the country’s economy, the nuclear power sector is a special industry, and the need to establish links between all the participants of the project goes without saying,” Seleznev said. 

“I am sure that significant experience in this sphere gathered by Russian educational institutions will contribute to the successful realization of nuclear infrastructure development being made by Turkey as well as localization of construction of nuclear power facilities in the [Turkish] Republic. Successful cases in Russian-Turkish cooperation in this sphere will be also useful for Russia and applicable for other newcomers in [nuclear power plant] construction based on VVER [Water-Water Energetic Reactor] technologies,” he added.

The project of the construction of Akkuyu, the first NPP in Turkey, is being implemented on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia and Turkey in Ankara on May 12, 2010. 

In June 2016, the Turkish parliament adopted amendments in three laws that significantly simplify licensing procedures and documentation. In addition, in early February 2017, the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency approved the design parameters of the Akkuyu nuclear plant site.