site.btaTurkiye May Soon Finalize Deal with China for Third NPP – Energy Minister

Turkiye hopes to finalize negotiations with China and conclude an agreement to build the country's third nuclear power plant "within the next few months", Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said at a news briefing in Ankara Friday, as quoted by the online version of the Sabah newspaper.

Bayraktar specified that the negotiations with China on the construction of a nuclear power plant in the north-western province of Kirklareli (bordering Bulgaria) have been going on for a long time.

We have now reached a stage where we expect to finalize the negotiations and conclude an agreement in the next few months, as other stakeholders are also involved, the energy minister said at the briefing.

Bayraktar assured that there are no major points of contention between the negotiating parties and believes that they will soon be able to reach an agreement. 

Turkey plans to have three nuclear power plants in the foreseeable future. The Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin County is the first nuclear power plant to be built in Turkiye. The project is being implemented on the basis of the intergovernmental cooperation agreement signed between Russia and Turkiye on May 12, 2010. In April, the Akkuyu NPP was officially granted nuclear site status.

Negotiations are also underway with Rosatom to build a second nuclear power plant in the Sinop region of Northern Turkiye.