Turkey To Give Akkuyu Nuclear Project ‘Special Status’

11 Aug (NucNet): Ankara is ready to give the Akkuyu nuclear power station the status of a “strategic investment”, which will allow investment on special terms and speed up the project, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to reports in Russia. State nuclear corporation Rosatom said Mr Erdogan made the comments following a meeting earlier this week with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Reports said the cost of the four 1,200 MW VVER units at Akkuyu, near Mersin on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast, has been set at some $20bn (€17bn). In July 2016 Russia’s deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Turkey had removed all legal obstacles to the construction of Akkuyu, which will be Turkey’s first nuclear power station. In May 2016 Rosatom told NucNet that amendments were needed to three Turkish laws before Russia could go ahead with Akkuyu. Rosatom said one law prevented the cutting down of olive trees on the proposed site. Another meant the shape of the seafront could not be altered to allow for construction of intake and outlet channels, and a third law prevented foreign producers of electricity from selling it. Akkuyu is to be built in cooperation with Rosatom under a contract signed in late 2010.