Category: Eastern Europe

Turkey’s first nuclear power plant to cost about $20 bln

On a question about nuclear waste disposal, Lokshin said that nuclear waste would be returned to Russia to be buried.

Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:42

Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, planned to be built by Russian state nuclear company on the southern coast of the country, would cost around $20 billion, a Russian official said on Wednesday.

In May, Turkey and Russia signed a deal for construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, a small town on the Mediterranean coast.

Alexander Lokshin from ROSATOM, Russia’s state-owned atomic power corporation, appeared at a press conference in Istanbul to give information about Akkuyu nuclear power plant process.

Lokshin said that Akkuyu site would be licensed by the end of 2011.

“We have one year ahead for applications,” Lokshin said, however, he added that it could take a little bit more than a year to complete legal procedures for licensing.

Earlier this week, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Vladimir Ivanovsky said that Russian company was likely to start building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in 2013 and the

first reactor was planned to generate electricty in 2018.

Turkish state-owned electricity corporation has guaranteed to buy a fixed amount of the plant’s output over the first 15 years starting from initial commercial operation at a reported price of 12.35 US cents per kWh, with the rest of the electricity to be sold on the open market by the project company.

Lokshin said it was not an expensive price considering a fixed period of nearly 23 years from now.

In the meantime, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin has arrived in Turkey earlier in the day to meet Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz. Sechin and Yildiz are expected to discuss details of works aimed at setting up a project company, a move to push the button for actual launch of the nuclear power plant project.

Turkey is also in talks with Japan for construction of another nuclear plant on the north coast of the country. Turkey started talks with Japan last month after a failure of negotiations with South Korea.

Russia will build four 1,200 megawatt units on Akkuyu site. Lokshin said Russia’s nuclear technology was one of the best in tho world. He said technology transfer could be negotiated with Turkey in case of a Turkish request.

Lokshin ruled out any concerns about Russian technology when asked about a public apprehension in Turkey after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, saying that reactors to be used at Akkuyu were “totally different” from Chernobyl reactors.

He said Russian company understands “prejudices” and public concerns and that such doubts were caused by public unawareness which could be eliminated by the help of awaraness-raising campaigns.

On a question about nuclear waste disposal, Lokshin said that nuclear waste would be returned to Russia to be buried.

AA

December 16, 2010
Russia to start building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in 2013

Russia will start building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant estimated at $20 billion in 2013, Russian ambassador to Ankara Vladimir Ivanovsky said on Sunday.

Russia to start building Turkey's first nuclear power plant in 2013

“The launch of the plant’s first power unit is planned for 2018 while the other three will be launched with an interval of one year. The fourth power unit will be put into operation in 2021 and the plant’s reactors are designed to operate for 60 years. The project for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under the Russian design is a strategic area of Russian-Turkish cooperation,” the diplomat said.

Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction and operation of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant during a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Ankara on May 12, 2010.

The project stipulates the construction of four power units with a capacity of 1.2 GW each under the Russian design, using VVER pressurized water reactors. The nuclear power plant will be built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport civilian nuclear power corporation near the Mediterranean port of Mersin in the Akkuyu area.

The project stipulates the establishment of a nuclear engineering company to put the nuclear power plant into operation. The company will be wholly owned by Russia at the initial stage.

ANKARA, December 12 (RIA Novosti)

via Russia to start building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in 2013 – ambassador | Russia | RIA Novosti.

December 13, 2010
Turkey to help Russia prepare for World Cup

Turkish companies may take part in building venues for the 2018 World Cup.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed this and other issues in a telephone conversation on Wednesday.

On December 2nd, Russia won the right to host the 2018World Cup.

There will be new stadiums, hotels and infrastructure faculties in 13 Russian cities.

via Turkey to help Russia prepare for World Cup: Voice of Russia.

December 9, 2010
Alleged Russian spy uncovered in British parliament

A young Russian woman working for a British lawmaker is facing deportation after security services detained her on suspicion of espionage, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday.

The paper reported that Katia Zatuliveter, 25, secretly worked for the Russian intelligence as a “sleeper” agent.

She had been working for Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock who sits on parliament’s defence select committee which examines defence policy but has no access to secret material.

Hancock, who is also an MP for Porstmouth in southern England where there is a large naval base, denied his research assistant had done anything wrong.

“She is not a Russian spy. I know nothing about espionage, but she has been subjected to a deportation order,” Hancock said in a statement. He said she would appeal moves to deport her.

The lawmaker said that the domestic security service, MI5, had never raised any concerns about her with him.

“No one has ever said to me under any circumstances whatsoever that she has been involved in anything like that,” he said. “It is now in the hands of her lawyers. I am sure that in the end she will be proved to be right.”

Hancock told the BBC in an interview she was arrested on Thursday morning and taken to an immigration detention centre in London, before being moved to another centre where she is being held and putting her appeal together.

“Nobody has shown me any evidence to support the view that she is any way a threat to the United Kingdom,” Hancock said.

He said his assistant, who had worked for him for close to three years, had passed strict security vetting procedures to work in parliament.

The paper said her removal was approved by Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May after being briefed about her activities.

The Home Office said it could not comment on individual cases or confirm deportation orders were in place. London’s Metropolitan police referred all queries to the UK Border Agency, who was not answering calls.

The Russian embassy in London could not be reached for comment.

A security source told the Sunday Times Zatuliveter’s presence was not “conducive to national security”, and the intention was to “show her the door”.

The paper said it was the first time since the end of the Cold War that someone working in parliament had been accused of spying for the Russians.

Toronto Sun

A young Russian woman working for a British lawmaker is facing deportation after security services detained her on suspicion of espionage, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday.
The paper reported that Katia Zatuliveter, 25, secretly worked for the Russian intelligence as a “sleeper” agent.
She had been working for Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock who sits on parliament’s defence select committee which examines defence policy but has no access to secret material.
Hancock, who is also an MP for Porstmouth in southern England where there is a large naval base, denied his research assistant had done anything wrong.
“She is not a Russian spy. I know nothing about espionage, but she has been subjected to a deportation order,” Hancock said in a statement. He said she would appeal moves to deport her.
The lawmaker said that the domestic security service, MI5, had never raised any concerns about her with him.
“No one has ever said to me under any circumstances whatsoever that she has been involved in anything like that,” he said. “It is now in the hands of her lawyers. I am sure that in the end she will be proved to be right.”
Hancock told the BBC in an interview she was arrested on Thursday morning and taken to an immigration detention centre in London, before being moved to another centre where she is being held and putting her appeal together.
“Nobody has shown me any evidence to support the view that she is any way a threat to the United Kingdom,” Hancock said.
He said his assistant, who had worked for him for close to three years, had passed strict security vetting procedures to work in parliament.
The paper said her removal was approved by Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May after being briefed about her activities.
The Home Office said it could not comment on individual cases or confirm deportation orders were in place. London’s Metropolitan police referred all queries to the UK Border Agency, who was not answering calls.
The Russian embassy in London could not be reached for comment.
A security source told the Sunday Times Zatuliveter’s presence was not “conducive to national security”, and the intention was to “show her the door”.
The paper said it was the first time since the end of the Cold War that someone working in parliament had been accused of spying for the Russians.

Toronto Sun

December 5, 2010
Inner City Press: Wikileaks Buzz from Turkey to UN, But Ban Quiet with Clinton, Assange as Terrorist?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 1 — As the new Wikileaks of US State Department cables were the buzz at the UN on Wednesday, from Sri Lanka war crimes to Russia’s “Mafia state,” the UN Secretariat did all it could to dodge questions about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s directive that the UN and its officials be spied on.

But at a Turkish Mission reception on Wednesday evening, a European Ambassador told Inner City Press that the leaks were going to cause trouble within countries all over the world. “Why did the US distribute these cables so widely?” he asked. “When I have information, I write only to my minister and his chief of staff, no one else.”

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to sue the American diplomats who cabled home that Erdogan has secret bank accounts in Switzerland. But well placed sources tell Inner City Press that the origin of the Swiss bank detail is the “Turkish minister who covers the European Union process.”

So maybe the lawsuit, if there is one, should be filed in Turkey itself.

After Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Clinton in Astana, the UN said only that “they discussed… the complications caused by the recent massive leak of US diplomatic cables.”

Inner City Press asked the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Executive Director Mike Smith about calls to designate Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange as part of a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Video here, from Minute 17:40.

Smith said he would “leave it up to the countries that are talking about that to work it out through these systems, I’m not going to comment on that.” Of course, it is within Smith’s and the UN’s stated job to speak on the misuse of terrorism laws and designations.

Footnote: beyond Ban Ki-moon’s meeting with Hillary Clinton, the UN on Wednesday afternoon confirmed to Inner City Press what it had asked about Ban’s meeting with South Korea’s foreign minister. Yes they met, including about two conferences in Seoul. But there was apparently no meeting with Ukraine’s president, despite Ukrainian press reports that there would be.

via Inner City Press: Wikileaks Buzz from Turkey to UN, But Ban Quiet with Clinton, Assange as Terrorist?.

December 5, 2010
Turks ill at ease as Russia poised to build nuclear plant

While Turkey is getting closer to realizing its first nuclear power plant, to be constructed by the Russian state-controlled Atomstroyexport JSC in Turkey’s southern province of Mersin, Turkish public opinion seems to be growing uneasy concerning the level of technology the Russians have to offer to Turkey and the overall safety conditions of the nuclear reactor they are to build, since the bitter memories of the Chernobyl disaster are still fresh in people’s minds.

A Ukrainian construction worker prepares the ground for the new depository of radioactive waste at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

On April 26, 1986, the world witnessed the worst nuclear power plant disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. After the incident the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) created the International Nuclear Safety Advisor Group (INSAG) to investigate the causes of the disaster. It determined the accident was caused by gross violations of operating rules and regulations. “During preparation and testing of the turbine generator under run-down conditions using the auxiliary load, personnel disconnected a series of technical protection systems and breached the most important operational safety provisions for conducting a technical exercise,” stated the INSAG report. The Soviet-constructed nuclear energy plant’s catastrophic disaster was due to a lack of knowledge of nuclear physics and faulty engineering in the construction and operation of the nuclear reactor.

Since the Soviet example of a nuclear plant disaster is etched in history, concerns about the safety of Russian (formerly Soviet) nuclear technology have arisen due to the Chernobyl disaster, bringing up an obvious question: Has Russia improved its expertise and technology in this field?

‘Nothing to worry about’

Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Sinan Ülgen, who is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels and chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) in İstanbul, said Russian technology is considered to be sufficiently safe. He noted the reactor offered to Turkey is from a totally different generation than the infamous Chernobyl design. “The only caveat in this respect is that there is as of yet no operational track record for the proposed reactor in Akkuyu. By the time the reactor is built, however, a similar reactor will have already been completed and started operation in China,” added Ülgen.

Ülgen stated the French Areva group has probably the most advanced technology in the world but underlined that Areva’s problem is that their reactor design is too expensive. He points out that in terms of technology, Japan, the US and South Korea come on the heels of France. China is also rapidly advancing in the field of nuclear energy, but it is particularly interested in meeting its own energy demand rather than exporting its technology.

Nuclear power sine qua non

Separately, Ülgen also touched on Turkey’s effort to construct its first nuclear power plant. The chairman of EDAM said Turkey needs to diversify its energy sources and include nuclear energy in its portfolio of electricity generation methods. “The construction of a nuclear power plant would enable Turkey to increase its technological knowhow in this crucial field. The question is really whether allowing Russia to construct the first nuclear power plant serves the purpose of improving Turkey’s energy security in view of the already high dependence on Russia in terms of natural gas supplies. Yet these doubts can be laid to rest in view of the model adopted for the construction of the Akkuyu plant in which Russia has taken on all the financial risk of building and operating the plant. Thus, Russia will not merely be a supplier as is the case with natural gas but a significant investor undertaking a significant commercial risk,” said Ülgen. “Therefore, from this perspective one can argue that this investment increases the interdependence between the two countries rather than making Turkey more dependent on Russia.”

In May of this year Turkey reached an agreement with Russia to construct its first nuclear power plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district. According to the agreement, the Russian state-led company Atomstroyexport JSC will construct the Akkuyu nuclear plant and have a controlling stake in the project. The project is estimated to cost about $20 billion and was approved by Parliament in mid-July.

December 5, 2010