Greenpeace urges Turkey to scrap nuclear talks with Japan’s TEPCO

Environmentalist group Greenpeace urged Turkey to cancel nuclear talks with Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the Japanese power utility that is in charge of disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant.

Turkey, which has signed an agreement with Russia for construction of its first nuclear power plant in the Mediterranean province of Mersin, was in talks with TEPCO and Toshiba on building a second one in Sinop, on the Black Sea coast. In May, Japan asked to suspend negotiations. But in June, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız signaled readiness to resume talks with the Japanese companies, saying Turkey wants to clarify the future of talks by mid-July.

In a statement released on Thursday, Greenpeace slammed TEPCO’s conduct in the aftermath of a nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant after a quake-triggered tsunami in March, saying it lacked transparency and accusing TEPCO officials of providing incomplete and incorrect information about radiation levels.

“It was the Japanese side that wanted the talks on Sinop nuclear plant to be suspended. Now, only three months after the [Fukushima] accident, the Turkish government wants to continue the talks with TEPCO… This is an irresponsible attitude that endangers lives of peoples of Turkey and the neighboring countries,” Pınar Aksoğan of Greenpeace said.

Aksoğan further urged the Turkish government not to have talks on construction of nuclear power plants with Japan or any other country because “the era of nuclear energy is over.”

“It is the Turkish government alone that fails to see this fact,” she said.

Turkey suffers frequent seismic activity, and fears of a major earthquake are ever present in some parts of the country, but the government wants to press ahead with plans for nuclear energy and has given assurances that all safeguards will be taken.

via Greenpeace urges Turkey to scrap nuclear talks with Japan’s TEPCO.