Russia-Turkey NPP Cooperation Goes as Planned: Turkish Energy Minister

MOSCOW, December 10 (Sputnik) —The cooperation between Russia and Turkey over the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant is going as scheduled, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said Wednesday.

"We had a very positive meeting with [the head of the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom Sergei] Kirienko, and of course we, both sides, are closely following the implementation of this project [the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant], we do have some problems but as a whole the project is being implemented as planned," Taner Yildiz told journalists

Yildiz noted that Turkey is building its very first nuclear power plant with Russia, the second – in cooperation with Japan and France and is planning to build the third plant mostly on its own. He also added that Turkey is open for cooperation and new projects.

In May 2010, Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in relation to the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in the Mersin Province in Turkey. The plant will have four power units of 1200 megawatt (MW) each, producing a total of about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The project's cost is estimated at about $20 billion.

On December 1, the Turkish ecology ministry gave the green light to the project. The same day Kirienko announced that Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom is planning to begin construction of the nuclear power plant at the Turkish site by March 2015.

Russia, Turkey Discuss Routes for New Black Sea Gas Pipeline

Russia and Turkey are currently discussing potential routes for a new Black Sea gas pipeline that would substitute the abandoned South Stream project, Taner Yildiz said.

"We have two options for the route, these are the [northern Turkish province of] Samsun and the Thrace [area between the borders of Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria]," the minister told reporters.

Yildiz specified that the two countries are focused on the second option, since Samsun already receives Russian gas through the Blue Stream trans-Black Sea pipeline.

The Turkish energy minister said that Russia's Gazprom and Turkey's Botas energy companies are currently in talks over the creation of a legal entity to implement the construction of a new Black Sea gas pipeline to Turkey.

"Being reliable partners, we will be able to reach an agreement on this issue," Yildiz said.

On December 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would abandon the South Stream pipeline project. The South Stream was originally designed to bring Russian natural gas to a number of EU countries via a new route under the Black Sea bypassing Ukraine.

The same day, the CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller said that Gazprom and Botas had signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a Black Sea gas pipeline to Turkey with an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters. According to Miller, a total of 14 billion cubic meters a year will be supplied to Turkey while the rest will be pumped to a hub on the Turkish-Greek border to be delivered to Gazprom's customers in Southern Europe.