Russia will start
building Turkey's first nuclear power plant estimated at $20 billion in 2013,
Russian ambassador to Ankara Vladimir Ivanovsky said on Sunday, Ria Novosti
writes.
"The launch
of the plant's first power unit is planned for 2018 while the other three will
be launched with an interval of one year. The fourth power unit will be put into
operation in 2021 and the plant's reactors are designed to operate for 60 years.
The project for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under the
Russian design is a strategic area of Russian-Turkish cooperation," the diplomat
said.
Russia and
Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction and operation
of Turkey's first nuclear power plant during a visit by Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev to Ankara on May 12, 2010.
The project
stipulates the construction of four power units with a capacity of 1.2 GW each
under the Russian design, using VVER pressurized water reactors. The nuclear
power plant will be built by Russia's Atomstroyexport civilian nuclear power
corporation near the Mediterranean port of Mersin in the Akkuyu
area.
The project
stipulates the establishment of a nuclear engineering company to put the nuclear
power plant into operation. The company will be wholly owned by Russia at the
initial stage.