Tag: nuclear power plant

Turkey aims to build home-grown nuclear industry, expertise

* Nuclear key to Turkey reducing energy import dependence

* Rosatom to bring Turkey’s 1st reactor on line in 2019

* Japanese-French consortium building 2nd facility

* Turkey wants new generation of nuclear engineers

By Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun

ANKARA, May 8 (Reuters) – Turkey wants to build a home-grown nuclear industry over the next decade as it seeks to cut reliance on costly imported oil and gas, even though the nuclear newcomer outsourced its first two atomic power plants to foreign firms.

The fast-growing nation of 76 million people, which faces a ballooning energy deficit, last week awarded a $22 billion deal to a Japanese-French consortium to build its second nuclear power plant at Sinop on the Black Sea coast.

The development of its planned first nuclear plant was also handed to a foreign company – Russia’s Rosatom, which aims for it to be operational in 2019.

Turkey is set to overtake Britain as Europe’s third-biggest electricity consumer within a decade and is seeking to cut its reliance on imported energy, the root cause of a gaping current account deficit that is its main economic weakness.

Developing an indigenous nuclear industry is part of that strategy. The government hopes that by the time it builds its third planned nuclear plant, local talent and technology will be the backbone of the project.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Ankara was looking for its third plant to be 80-85 percent built with Turkish engineering and expertise, although a foreign partner would probably still be involved in the financing.

“We will wait for the third plant in order to accumulate our nuclear experience. We would team up with a foreign partner, but the third one will not be a build-and-operate deal,” he said, making clear Turkey would want to operate the plant itself.

Turkey is adopting the same model that Gulf states with atomic ambitions such as the United Arab Emirates have used – relying on foreign talent and financing to build, operate and maintain their first plants as they seek to develop indigenous expertise.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Itochu Corporation will build the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant at Sinop, and France’s GDF Suez will operate it. French group Areva’s Atmea type reactors will be used.

HUMAN CAPACITY CHALLENGE

Analysts say developing competent human capacity and setting a clear-cut strategy should lie at the heart of the ambitions of a country new to nuclear energy, particularly after the Fukushima disaster in Japan two years ago prompted governments around the world to rethink their nuclear strategies.

“Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011 demonstrates the consequences of technical and human failures in the sector,” the Brookings Institute said in a paper late last year that compared Turkey, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear plans.

While the UAE has a more comprehensive approach to developing home-grown talent, Turkey has the advantage of a deeper level of experience in nuclear science, experts say.

John Banks, one of the authors of the Brookings Institute paper, said Turkey needed to develop its human capacity fast.

“It is understandable that Turkey would outsource these skills – talent, technology – but it still needs to be an intelligent customer to oversee the requirements,” he said, pointing out that the reactors planned for Turkey’s first and second planned plants were new designs untested elsewhere.

“This poses a big challenge for the Turkish regulator … If you are talking about connecting these reactors to the grid within ten years … then do you have a workforce plan that stretches out that far?”

The agreement with Japan envisages the setting up of Turkish vocational colleges and universities to provide nuclear training. Under the deal with Rosatom 100 students each year will be trained in Russia. The programme attracted over 5,000 applications for the positions this year.

Turkey is working to establish universities and vocational colleges near Sinop, where the second plant will be located, with the aim of educating a new generation of nuclear engineers.

Robin Mills at Dubai-based firm Manaar Consulting said Turkey was better placed to meet the human resources challenge than other nuclear newcomers such as the UAE.

“I would think Turkey would have more capability to indigenize its nuclear power programme, given its large population and a strong engineering tradition.” (Editing by Nick Tattersall and Jane Baird)

via Turkey aims to build home-grown nuclear industry, expertise | Reuters.

May 9, 2013
Turkey selects Japan to build nuclear plant

Japan has learned from the Fukushima disaster and will offer technology with the highest safety standards while building Turkey’s second nuclear plant, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today.

Turkey chose a Japanese-French partnership for the construction of a nuclear reactor on its Black Sea coast and a nuclear cooperation agreement was signed during Abe’s visit to Ankara.

Despite being prone to earthquakes, energy-dependent Turkey declared in the wake of the Fukushima incident that it would stand firmly by plans to build three nuclear power plants.

A powerful earthquake and tsunami off Japan’s northeastern coast knocked out vital cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in 2011, causing multiple meltdowns and setting off the worst nuclear catastrophe since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Turkey’s Energy Ministry said the country decided to begin technical negotiations with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s Areva, after companies from South Korea, China and Canada withdrew or were eliminated from the bid.

The 5000-megawatt capacity plant is expected to cost US$22 billion and be operational in 2023.

Russia will construct Turkey’s first plant in Akkuyu, on the Mediterranean coast. It is scheduled to begin test production in 2019.

In constructing the second plant, “we are going to use first-class technology,” Abe said. “We have carried our experience in nuclear safety to the highest level through lessons learned from past accidents and risks.”

“We will share our experience with Turkey,” he added. “We have raised standards, lifting us to the highest ranks in terms of nuclear safety.”

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said under the cooperation deal with Japan, Japanese experts also would work with Turkish engineers in selecting the site of a third nuclear plant.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was a rapidly developing nation that was forced to diversify energy resources. He has repeatedly downplayed nuclear risks.

“There may be a one in a million risk but that does not mean we can’t take a step,” Erdogan said. “We still take planes even if they crash, we still ride cars even if there are road accidents.”

– AP

via Turkey Nuclear Plant | Turkey tab Japan to build… | Stuff.co.nz.

May 4, 2013
UPDATE 1-Turkey to say in days who will build 2nd nuclear plant

(Reuters) – Turkey’s energy minister said Ankara will announce by the weekend which country will construct its second nuclear power station, a project expected to cost around $22 billion.

Turkey, likely to overtake Britain as Europe’s third-biggest electricity consumer within ten years, plans to build several nuclear plants over the next decade to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas.

“We are about to finalise the agreement for construction of the second power plant. China and Japan are the front runners,” Taner Yildiz told reporters on Monday.

Turkey is expected to choose a Japanese consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Itochu Corp , with France’s GDF Suez, to build the plant which is seen having a capacity of around 4,500-5,000 megawatts (MW), according to Turkish government sources.

Turkish media reported in March that the deal will be signed by Turkish and Japanese officials in early May to construct four pressurized water nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of about 4.5 gigawatts at Sinop on the Black Sea. Construction is to start in 2017.

Turkey signed a deal with Russia’s Rosatom in 2010 to build its first nuclear power station. Rosatom will start construction in mid-2015 and it expects electricity production to start in 2019, its deputy general manager said in February.

Yildiz said the announcement on who will be chosen is due this weekend while a source close to the matter said the agreement will be signed during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Turkey over the weekend to meet his counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish energy sources said the consortium had proposed installing Areva’s Atmea reactors. These are 1,100 megawatt pressurized water reactors developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Areva in their Atmea joint venture.

To date, this reactor has not been sold or built anywhere, but Areva hopes to sell it in Turkey, Jordan, Vietnam and Argentina.

Apart from China and Japan, Turkey had also been in talks with companies from Canada and South Korea on the planned Sinop plant.

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via UPDATE 1-Turkey to say in days who will build 2nd nuclear plant | Reuters.

April 30, 2013
Turkey denies French-Japanese JV win nuke bid

Turkey declined reports on Thursday that a French-Japanese consortium has won a tender to build the country’s second nuclear power plant, asserting it was “too early to comment.”

Japan’s Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday that the Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and France’s Areva SA have won an order to build Turkey’s second nuclear power plant, a project expected to cost around $22 billion. Representatives from Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy were unavailable immediately to comment, but Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz rushed in on Thursday to deny that such a deal existed.

“It is too early to make such comments. … We cannot yet say the race for [who will build] our second nuclear power plant is over,” Yildiz told a private news channel on Thursday.

Turkey has been in negotiations with South Korea, China, Japan and Canada for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop. An agreement was reached with Russia in 2010 to build the first plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district.

Reiterating the Turkish government’s reluctance to offer a state guarantee for the nuclear project’s financing, Yildiz said South Korea was eliminated due to this condition, while more focused talks continued with Japan and China. “I think we are now closer to finalizing the talks with these two countries than ever,” said the energy minister.

This is not the first time Turkey has insisted on “risk sharing” in the months-long Sinop nuclear bid. Observers argued Yildiz’s statements were meant to further heat up competition between the bidders so that they would agree to relatively more favorable terms.

Ongoing rapprochement between Ankara and Paris as the latter decided to lift its block on Turkey’s EU accession negotiations along with improving ties with Japan remains a key factor in the alleged nuclear deal.

Nikkei on Thursday said Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources had informed Japanese government and corporate officials of the decision to award them a deal to build four pressurized water nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of about 4.5 gigawatts in Sinop, a province on the Black Sea coast.

The paper added that the Turkish government had approached Japan about a summit meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in early May, after which it is likely to officially grant preferred negotiating rights to the Mitsubishi-Areva consortium. It added construction is set to start in 2017, with the first reactor slated to come online by 2023, and France’s GDF Suez SA will operate the plant.

Energy-poor Turkey aims to have three nuclear power plants, all of them operational by 2023, its centennial. It is anticipated to overtake Britain as Europe’s third-biggest electricity consumer within a decade.

Meanwhile, Yildiz on Thursday asserted the government will stick with plans to increase oil trade with Iraq’s north while a possible natural gas pipeline from Israel to flow through Turkey into world markets was “on the table.” “All countries in this region are aware Turkey is the key, most feasible corridor for similar energy transfer projects.”

via Turkey denies French-Japanese JV win nuke bid.

April 7, 2013
Japan, France firms to build Turkey nuclear plant: report – The Economic Times

TOKYO: Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s ArevaBSE 0.27 % are expected to win a $22 billion contract to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey, a newspaper said Thursday.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s Areva are expected to win a $22 billion contract to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey.

Turkey’s energy and natural resources ministry held talks with Japanese government and company officials in Ankara on Wednesday and told them of its readiness to place the order from the two firms, the Nikkei business daily said.

Under the expected order, Mitsubishi and Areva will build four pressurised water reactors with a combined output of 4.5 million kilowatts in Sinop on the Black Sea, the newspaper said.

Construction of the country’s second nuclear power plant is to begin in 2017, with the first reactor coming on line by 2023, it said.

France’s GDF Suez will operate the facility while a joint venture involving Japanese and Turkish companies will sell the power to local utilities, it added.

A Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman declined to confirm the report.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan may meet in Turkey in early May with plans to agree on the promotion of nuclear reactor construction, Nikkei said.

After the two governments sign the agreement, preferred negotiation rights will be officially awarded to the Mitsubishi-Areva alliance, the daily said.

Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and Canadian nuclear reactor makers had been competing for the project, but Turkey appeared to have given high marks to the Japanese team’s technological prowess, reliability and price, it said.

The deal marks Japan’s first successful public-private bid for an overseas nuclear plant project since its 2011 nuclear disaster and could build momentum for further nuclear technology exports, it said.

A huge tsunami crippled cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, sending reactors into meltdown, spewing radioactive materials into surrounding areas.

via Japan, France firms to build Turkey nuclear plant: report – The Economic Times.

April 5, 2013
Turks Ask Their Leaders to Say “No to Nuclear”

Turks Ask Their Leaders to Say “No to Nuclear”

Julia Harte

Two years after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan, the Turkish government is moving ahead with nuclear power despite public opposition.

Hundreds of Turkish activists formed a human chain across a bridge over Istanbul’s Golden Horn on March 10, the day before the second anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world’s second biggest nuclear energy accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Turkey’s government expects work to begin on the country’s first nuclear power stations this year.

“No to Nuclear”

The activists, members of the Turkish Anti-Nuclear Platform (NKP) stood behind a banner reading “No to Nuclear” in the languages of all the countries that have expressed interest in building a nuclear power plant in Turkey, including Russia, South Korea, Japan, China, and Canada.

Turkey’s two planned nuclear power stations are set to be located at Akkuyu on the southern Mediterranean coast and Sinop, by the Black Sea. The design for the Akkuyu plant, on which construction is expected to begin this year, was revealed in July 2012.

At Sunday’s anti-nuclear event, as reported in Turkish independent media center Bianet (in Turkish), a spokesperson for the NKP gave a press statement explaining why the group opposes nuclear power in Turkey.

Not only did the disaster cost Japan hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and force 160,000 people to abandon their homes, said the statement, the consequences of Fukushima will stay with Japan for many years to come:

“Even today, high levels of radiation are being found in Japan’s soil and water… Mutations seen in the region’s butterflies are an omen of health problems that will be experienced in future years. According to the results of health screenings from Fukushima province released on Jan 21 2013, 44% of 95,000 children displayed thyroid abnormalities.”

What the nuclear disasters of the past several decades have taught the world, according to the NKP, is that “there is only one way to prevent nuclear disasters: don’t build nuclear power plants.”

Turkish PM “doesn’t take nuclear threat seriously”

Shortly after the Fukushima disaster, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave a statement that anyone who wanted to live without risk could “not build crude oil lines in their country and not use gas in their kitchens.”

Despite the fact that many countries abandoned nuclear projects after the Fukushima meltdown, the NKP statement pointed out, Turkey charged ahead on its own plans to develop nuclear power.

The NKP is concerned, according to the statement, that Erdoğan “considers the nuclear threat equivalent to that of a gas explosion. It’s obvious that the government doesn’t take the nuclear threat seriously.”

Turkey not ready for nuclear?

A recent Greenpeace investigation into Turkey’s Nuclear Energy Institute (TAEK) and its careless response to high radiation levels at an abandoned lead factory used as a playground, raise further concerns over Turkey’s readiness to handle the consequences of nuclear energy.

If the Akkuyu plant is built as planned, for example, Russia has promised to ship all the waste from it back into Russia to be processed. But doing so, as the NKP statement pointed out, would require the waste to be loaded onto ships passing through the already over-crowded Bosphorus Strait, which bisects Istanbul.

In the event of an accident, not only would the Istanbul fishing industry essentially end forever, this city of nearly 20 million would be exposed to nuclear waste, with potentially catastrophic results.

via Turks Ask Their Leaders to Say “No to Nuclear” | Green Prophet.

March 12, 2013