Turkey inked two agreements to facilitate closer work on nuclear technology with China Monday.
Earlier, Voice of America reported that Energy Minister Taner Yildiz indicated the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would decide whether to invite Chinese companies to bid on a nuclear power project on the Black Sea during his visit to the country this week. Although details were sparse, Agence France-Presse reported one of the agreements was a letter of intent for further cooperation between China’s National Energy Administration and Turkey’s energy ministry.
Turkey reached an agreement in 2010 with Russia for Rosatom to build, own and operate four, 1,200 megawatt AES-2006 reactors at the Akkuyu site, according to the World Nuclear Association. Rosatom expected to begin construction on the $20 billion project in 2013.
On the Black Sea, a proposal to build a second plant at Sinop drew an unsuccessful negotiation with Korea Electric Power Co. for four APR-1400 reactors in 2010, followed by a proposal by Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power Co. for four, 1,350 megawatt ABWRs. That effort, though, was also suspended after the accidents at TEPCO’s Fukushima plant in Japan.
Last November, the prime minister asked Kepco to resubmit its bid, and his talks in China may well lead to a bid from that country’s nuclear companies as well. France’s Areva and GDF Suez also expressed interest in the project.