Toshiba Corporation's nuclear power giant Westinghouse Electric announced that had entered into exclusive negotiations to develop a four-reactor AP1000 power plant in the Republic of Turkey.
The deal with the Electricity Generation Company, Turkey's largest utility company, has a potential value of $20 billion, media reports say.
The agreement also involves a partnership with the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation of China, which is developing two AP1000 plants, each with two reactors, in eastern China, one in Sanmen and one in Haiyang.
Including the two plants in China, the Vogtle 3 and 4 projects in eastern Georgia and the two V.C. Summer reactors in South Carolina, there are eight AP1000 reactors under construction. There are no AP1000 plants yet completed. The Samnen and Haiyang projects are due for completion in 2015 and 2016. Summer 2 is expected to be completed in late 2018 or early 2019, followed by Summer 3 a year later. The 1.1 GW Vogtle 3 unit and the 1.1 GW Vogtle 4 unit, are slated for completions in 2017 and 2018.
Westinghouse also has agreements to develop two other AP1000 facilities, one at Moorside in Britain and one at Kozluduy in Bulgaria.
Media projections are based on an estimated $5 billion per reactor unit, but comparisons might be apples to oranges. The project in Georgia is expected to cost $14 billion. On the other hand, the deal under discussion in Turkey is set up as an all-encompassing, start-to-finish arrangement that includes all phases of nuclear plant development, including construction, refueling, service and operations, maintenance and decommissioning.
“We are excited to expand into the Republic of Turkey and provide our cutting-edge technology and innovative passive safety systems,” CEO Danny Roderick said in a statement.
Westinghouse bills the AP1000 as cost effective and safe. It includes passive safety features that do not require human intervention during an emergency. This feature is made possible by simpler infrastructure needs, which cuts down on construction costs.