Tag: Igneada

  • Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border

    Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border

    Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border – Report

    photo verybig 1448061

    The construction site of what could become a Turkish NPP is said to be visible from the Bulgarian Black Sea village of Rezovo. Map from bivol.bg

    Turkey does not intend to construct a nuclear power plant several kilometers away from its border with Bulgaria, a Bulgarian official has stated, denying earlier reports.

    Konstantin Grebenarov, district governor of Bulgaria’s Burgas, has assured that Turkey only plans to build a thermal power plant

    “Currently there are only private investment intentions for the construction of a thermal power plant there,” Grebenarov told reporters on Monday.

    However, the Bulgaria Greens have expressed concerns over the potential power plant near the Bulgarian border. Even a thermal power plant may pose serious environmental risks, Greens party representative Petko Kovachev has told the Bulgarian National Radio.

    “Our reaction should be very strong if Turkey is building a nuclear power plant near our border without notifying Bulgaria and the European Commission,” Kovachev declared.

    Last week, it emerged that the municipality of the small Black Sea Turkish town of Igneada has received a letter from the central government in Ankara announcing the upcoming construction of a nuclear power plant and thermal power plant on the spot.

    Igneada is a town of some 2 000 inhabitants, located 5 km south of the Rezovska (Rezovo) River, which marks the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The first reports that Turkey was planning to build a nuclear power plant there emerged in 2011.

    Back in April 2011, the Turkish Consul in Burgas Sibel Arkan told Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov that Igneada is only the project with the third highest possibility to become Turkey’s third NPP and the Turkish government is yet to take a decision on its construction.

    In May 2010, Turkey reached an agreement with Russia for the construction of what will become Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district. Turkey’s second NPP is to be located in Sinop on the Black Sea.

    Locals in both Bulgaria and Turkey are said to be alarmed by the reports that a NPP may be built in Igneada.

    Tags: Sinop NPP, Igneada NPP, EDF, GDF Suez, Areva, Ankara, Tekirdag, France, Sinop, Akkuyu NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, NPP, Taner Yildiz, Black Sea coast, Black Sea, Igneada, Bulgaria Greens

    via Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border – Report – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.

  • Bulgarians irked at Turkey’s nuclear power plan

    Bulgarians irked at Turkey’s nuclear power plan

    Turkey is planning to build a nuclear power station at İğneada, a small town close to the Bulgarian border on the Black Sea coast. No official Bulgarian reaction has yet been recorded, but Internet forums were overwhelmed with alarmed messages regarding the possible consequences of the decision.

    Background

    Turkey is criss-crossed by fault lines, and small and medium-sized earthquakes are a near daily occurrence. Two large quakes in 1999 killed more than 20,000 people.

    The government says Turkey must diversify its energy mix and boost supply to keep up with soaring demand amid rapid economic growth. It is aiming to generate 20% of its power from nuclear sources by 2030.

    During a visit to Moscow last month, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Erdogan said construction on a plant might start in April.

    More on this topic

    News:Oettinger pushes for stress tests of Europe’s nuclear plants

    İğneada, which lies on the Black Sea coast in the region of Thrace, is the safest location for the plant in terms of earthquake resistance, Turkish officials said, according to a report in Turkish newspaper Hürriyet on Wednesday (6 April).

    A nuclear plant at İğneada would be the third such project recently announced by Turkey. Ankara has already approved plans to build two nuclear plants, one in Akkuyu on the Mediterranean and another one at Sinop, on the northern edge of Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

    Turkey concluded a deal with Russia to build Turkey’s first nuclear plant in Akkuyu. The total capacity of the nuclear power plants to be built in Akkuyu and Sinop is expected to be nearly 10,000 megawatts. The second nuclear plant will reportedly be developed by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Toshiba. TEPCO gained notoriety after the recent disaster at its Fukushima plant, the Turkish press reports.

    Turkey intends to build three nuclear power plants with a total power generation capacity of 15,000 megawatts by 2023, the officials said.

    The site planned for the Mediterranean nuclear station is only a couple of dozen miles away from a fault line which geologists fear is in danger of sliding at any time, Hayrettin Kilic, a nuclear physicist who campaigns against atomic power, is quoted by Reuters as saying.

    “There are a few proper places for the third nuclear power plant. İğneada seems to be the best one,” unnamed officials are quoted as saying.

    Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said no official decision had been taken regarding the location of a third nuclear plant.

    “We said our extensive 2023 vision also includes a third nuclear plant. This idea still exists but our main aim is now to conclude negotiations of the first two plants,” Yıldız said.

    According to the Dnevnik daily, EurActiv’s partner in Bulgaria, the planned Turkish plant is located 15km from Rezovo, a village situated on the Bulgarian side of the Black Sea, near the Turkish border.

    At the time of publication, 375 readers had commented on Dnevnik’s article, voicing concerns about the environmental risks of building a nuclear plant there.

    Bulgaria has a 300km-long Black Sea coast, which hosts a myriad of booming tourist resorts. Many posted comments related to concerns that the project will scare tourists away from Bulgaria. Some readers insisted that Sofia should block Turkey’s EU bid in retaliation.

    Bulgaria has one nuclear power plant, at Kozloduy on the Danube river, and has started building a second one at Belene, also on the river, which constitutes a natural border with Romania. Work at Belene was frozen after the Fukushima disaster pending further security assurances from Russian developer Rosatom.

    In Brussels, the European Commission admitted it could not prevent countries from building nuclear power stations in border regions, but highlighted the importance of the “stress tests” which the EU is aiming to put in place to improve nuclear safety after Fukushima.

    “That’s why we would like to include Turkey and other countries when we develop stress tests,” said Marlene Holzner, spokesperson for Energy Commissioner Guenter Oettinger.

    Such consultations were seen as useful when discussing plans for new nuclear power plants. It was easier to take measures to comply with the requirements of stress tests than to upgrade such facilities, she added.

    Positions

    Turkey should abandon plans to build nuclear power plants, because its proximity to geological fault lines means it could face a nuclear crisis like the one in Japan, Greenpeace said.

    “It is a mistake to go nuclear after what has happened in Japan,” Uygar Ozesmi, Greenpeace’s Mediterranean director, said at a news conference. “In a quake-prone country like Turkey, you cannot launch a nuclear power industry.”

    “Regardless of the dangers of an earthquake, nuclear technology itself is the main risk,” Ozesmi said. “Whatever generation you use requires a cooling system, and when we look at any major nuclear incident, the cooling system is at fault.”

    via Bulgarians irked at Turkey’s nuclear power plan | EurActiv.

  • Turkey to Build Its 3rd Nuclear Power Plant on Bulgarian Border

    Turkey to Build Its 3rd Nuclear Power Plant on Bulgarian Border

    Turkey plans to construct a nuclear power plant right on the Bulgarian border in the region of Eastern Thrace, virtually on the Black Sea coast.

    The Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas is only 75 km north of Turkey's Igneada. Map by stroitelstvo.info
    The Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas is only 75 km north of Turkey's Igneada. Map by stroitelstvo.info

    The site of what is planned to become the third nuclear power plant in Turkey, with projects for the other two already underway, will be the small Black Sea town of Igneada, a town of some 2 000 inhabitants, located 5 km south of the Rezovska (Rezovo) River, which marks the Bulgarian-Turkish border, according to reports in the Turkish press citing sources from the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

    There is no border crossing near the village of Rezovo, which is located on the mouth of the Rezovska River on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the closest Bulgarian-Turkish border crossing is at Malko Tarnovo, about 45 km to the west of the future Turkish NPP in Igneada.

    The Black Sea city of Burgas, the fourth largest city in Bulgaria, is located only 75 km north of Igneada.

    The project for the construction of the Turkish nuclear power plant in Igneada is the third in line in the plans of the Turkish government after the NPPs in Akkuyu and Sinop.

    In May 2010, Turkey reached an agreement with Russia for the construction of what will become Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district.

    According to the agreement, Russia’s state-run Atomstroyexport JSC will construct four 1000 MW reactors at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, and will have a controlling stake in the project. The project is estimated to cost about USD 25 B and was approved by Turkey’s Parliament in mid-July.

    Turkey’s Akkuyu NPP is viewed in Bulgaria as a competitor to the potential second Bulgarian NPP at Belene on the Danube where Atomstroyexport is supposed to construct two 1000 MW reactors.

    After months of talks, at the end of 2010 Japan came closer to grabbing from South Korea a deal for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey, which should become Turkey’s second, to be located in Sinop on the Black Sea.

    In January 2011, Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced that leading French companies Areva, GDF and EDF have offered Turkey to build what should become the country’s third nuclear power plant. He did not elaborate on the details of the project, but said talks with French authorities are continuing.

    Tekirdag in European Turkey and the capital Ankara were reported at the time to be the most likely locations for Turkey’s third NPP. Reports suggest that TAEK has identified Igneada on the Black Sea, as a third nuclear power plant site, future NPP site itself being 12 km from the Bulgarian border. Turkish environmentalist groups are said to be opposed to the construction of a NPP in the Thrace region in European Turkey.

    The nuclear disaster in Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi NPP caused by the devastating March 11 earthquake has not affected Turkey’s plans for building three nuclear plans.

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan has recently declared that the first Turkish nuclear plant in Akkuyu will be exemplary for the world in terms of safety.

    Greece and Cyprus recently voiced strong concerns over Turkey’s plans to build the Akkuyu NPP, described as a coastal nuclear power plant close to an earthquake-prone area, dismissing neighbors’ fears that Japan’s nuclear disaster shows that the new plant could be a risk to the whole Mediterranean region.

    Greece and Cyprus say the move is a gamble that could cause a catastrophe and want the European Union to scrutinize the EU candidate’s plan. The future Akkuyu plan will be on the Mediterranean coast, close to the Ecemis Fault, which an expert says could possibly generate a magnitude-7 quake.

    via Bulgaria: Turkey to Build Its 3rd Nuclear Power Plant on Bulgarian Border – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.