Turkey says talks with China, Russia, South Korea underway for new nuclear plants

ANKARA — Turkey is in talks with China, Russia and South Korea for the country's second and third nuclear power plant projects, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Monday.

Speaking to Turkish media, Bayraktar said that Ankara would speed up the efforts to build the new plants and talks with the three countries are ongoing. 

He said the second plant will be built in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Sinop. 

“We definitely need a nuclear power plant in the Thrace region,” he added, referring to the northwestern region that Turkey is eyeing as a location for its third plant. 

Bayraktar said that as well as these plant projects, Ankara was working with the United States and the United Kingdom on potential modular nuclear facilities. “Energy diplomacy will remain as one of the items high on the agenda of our ministry,” he said.

He said the three countries are working on a set of projects worth $200 billion, and also intend to increase the share of renewable and nuclear energy sources as part of Turkey’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2053, a target announced in 2021.

Russian energy giant Rosatom is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the country’s southern province of  Mersin. Ahead of Turkey’s May general elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin virtually attended a ceremony held for the first loading of nuclear fuel into the first power unit, with Erdogan pledging to take the steps for the construction of the second and third plants as soon as possible.

Bayraktar said the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin was set to procure electricity next year and that his country was in talks with France for the independent oversight of the plant.