Turkish Forum

Tag: nuclear power reactor

  • Germany Shuts Down Reactors, Turkey Builds, Why?

    Germany Shuts Down Reactors, Turkey Builds, Why?

    NİLAY VARDAR REPORTED FROM GERMANY

    Germany Shuts Down Reactors, Turkey Builds, Why?

    While Turkey is eagerly signing deals to establish its first nuclear power plant in a foreseeable future without discussing potential perils of nuclear energy, Germany has been dealing with nuclear waste for the past 35 years.

    Nilay VARDAR
    nilay@bianet.org

    490-254

    * At a salt mine 930 meters below ground

    Following the disaster in Fukushima, Germany has decided to shut down all its nuclear reactors by 2022. The decision also re-ignited the nuclear waste storage issue that troubled the country for 35 years.

    Located two hours away from Berlin, the district of Gorleben has become a major destination in Germany anti-nuclear lobby, especially when truck loads of nuclear waste are being transferred to a storage facility at a nearby salt mine underground.

    Along with a dozen journalists from Turkey, I was invited by Henrich Böll Stiftung Foundation to visit nuclear waste storage facilities in Gorleben, Germany.

    No consensus on ultimate storage facilities

    One of the most controversial aspects of nuclear energy is its waste storage. No country, so far, has resolved this issue. Scientists have yet to reach an agreement on whether it is safer to store nuclear waste in ultimate storage facilities underground or just on more ordinary storage facilities on the ground. In 2005, Germany banned the re-usage of nuclear waste in various side industries, saying that it might fall into the hands of terrorists who might potentially use it as a weapon.

    Turkey never discussed nuclear waste

    No nuclear waste management plan has been announced by Turkish government yet. There are rumors that Russia might purchase nuclear waste produced from Turkey’s first reactor in Akkuyu, Mersin province.

    Upon their activation, nuclear reactors start producing nuclear waste. Initially, this waste is contaminated in barrels and transferred to an intermediate storage facility where it is kept for 40 years. Nonetheless, some waste material doesn’t lose radioactivity for 250,000 years and there are endless debates on how to store or restore them.

    More than 35 years to complete facility

    * Ultimate nuclear waste storage facility located 3 kilometers away from a river

    Pioneers in nuclear waste storage research, Finland and Sweden are making plans to store their nuclear waste in granite rocks, while Germany decided to do the same in salt mines. The decision on the storage material depends on the distribution of geological resources. Establishing its first nuclear power plant in 1968, Germany has chosen the salt mines located in Gorloben as its major nuclear waste storage area. However, the decision has been out off for 10 years due to political reasons, and now an implementation is on the way to resolve the political disagreement. Because the inhabitants of Gorloben has never been persuaded on the security of nuclear waste storage facility with a solid scientific evidence.

    Waste to be store in salt

    A delegation of 9 journalists from Turkey have been 930 meters below ground to see the salt mines in Gorloben. Germany spend over 1,6 million euros to establish the facility and there is still the risk that it cant be activated due to pressure from local lobbies.

    The facility experts claim that salt mineral doesn’t contaminate gases for at least 250 million years. In this way, they hope to store the waste in salt crystals.

    There is no “0 risks”

    There is no “0 risks”, experts said. “The whole point is to store the waste as secure as possible.” The German government is looking for ways to reach the waste 500 years later in case new technologies will make it possible to re-use or recycle the nuclear material. However, nobody can estimate from now what earth will look like in 500 years.

    At the intermediate storage level

    After visiting the ultimate waste storage area below ground, we went to the intermediate storage level which costs 50 million euros to Germany and two thirds of it full already. The facility will leave its post to the ultimate storage facility once the project is complete.

    Jürgen Auer, PR representative of the facility, said the barrels did not contaminate any radiation at all, but it risked becoming a target of terrorist attacks. “The ultimate storage facilities are cost-efficient and we are insisting to build them because of moral responsibility,” he said.

    Salt mine security issues

    Lately, there has been a flooding accident in another salt mine in Asse, Germany. Even though Germany insists that below ground facilities are the safest way to store nuclear waste, the incident proved once more of potential risks. Now nobody knows how water will evacuated from the storage facility. The situation of stored nuclear waste is also unknown.

    Farmers of Gorloben

    Following our facility visits, we went to downtown Gorloben where people seemed not happy at all to have a nuclear storage facility right outside their city.

    “We chose a yellow cross (which looks like the letter x) sign to represent the arrival of trainloads of nuclear waste, because we don’t know when they are coming,” a farmer said.

    These yellow cross signs are ubiquitous around the city. Some farmers attempt to block the railway with their vehicles. Others even pave the railway with yellow pyramid-shaped bricks and out their hand in them. Farmers claimed that they have been assaulted by police forces to stop their protests. During the latest protest, the farmers blocked the railway for 15 hours.

    Farmer struggle resumes

    Monica Tietke, an organic farmer, said her family was in the business for 450 years.

    “We don’t know how this facility will affect our farms here. There is no guarantee that it won’t affect the environment and people surrounding the area,” she said.

    Tietke said Gorlebon farmers has been struggling to stop the facility construction for the past 35 years.

    “There are controversies surrounding the facility. We had pine forests in the forests and many believe that a recent arson was caused by the facility construction. It might be a sabotage even.”

    Gorleben farmers also said they have taken legal action to stop the facility from activating in the near future. “We want a reassessment of environmental costs. Until then, we will continue blocking the railways.” (NV/BM)

  • Turkey Strengthens Nuclear Cooperation with Russia

    Turkey Strengthens Nuclear Cooperation with Russia

    Turkey Strengthens Nuclear Cooperation with Russia

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 213

    November 30, 2010

    By: Saban Kardas

    Turkish Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, welcomed the recent progress in Turkey’s first nuclear power plant project that will be built by Russia and underscored Ankara’s determination to develop nuclear energy through foreign partnerships. Yildiz told reporters that Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, signed the inter-governmental agreement, which was recently ratified by both houses of the Russian parliament (Anadolu Ajansi, November 29).

    After various futile efforts to issue a license for the construction of the country’s first nuclear plant in Akkuyu-Mersin on the Mediterranean coast through competitive bidding, Ankara opted for a more controversial method. Instead of an open tender, Turkey pursued a bilateral cooperation route and signed an inter-governmental agreement with Russia in May during Medvedev’s visit to Turkey (EDM, May 20). Under this agreement, Rosatom will build, own and operate the Akkuyu-Mersin plant comprising four 1,200 mega watt (MW) units. Rosatom will also raise the finances for the project and will posses 100 percent equity in the $20 billion project company undertaking the construction and operation of the plant. In the long-term, the Russian side will likely retain at least 51 percent of the company. A Turkish firm, Park Teknik, and the Turkish state electricity generation company –EUAS– may take significant shares in the project, while the state company will provide the site, and the state electricity distribution company, TETAS, will buy a designated proportion of the electricity generated at a fixed price of $12.35 (www.worldnuclear.org, November 29).

    Through the completion of this project and other subsequent nuclear plants, the Turkish government hopes to bolster Turkey’s energy interdependence. In the new energy strategy document published in April, Turkey vowed to reduce its heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels, through greater utilization of Turkey’s renewable resources and nuclear energy. The construction of the first plant is expected to begin by 2014 and 5 percent of Turkey’s total electricity consumption will come from nuclear plants by 2023 (EDM, April 29).

    Eager to see the construction work start, the Turkish government finalized the ratification process for the inter-governmental agreement this summer. However, the debates in the Turkish parliament reflect how the government’s energy policies and nuclear policy continue to evoke criticism from opposition parties. Representatives from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), junior opposition Nationalist Action Party and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party criticized the government for failing to protect Turkish interests. Overall, they maintained that under the current agreement, Turkey would be unable to receive nuclear technology transfers and will remain a sole consumer of “Russian” electricity produced on Turkish soil. CHP representatives went as far as accusing the government of “betraying the country and insulting the Turkish nation… [succumbing to Russian plans]” (Anadolu Ajansi, July 15). Thanks to its majority, the government managed to secure the ratification of the agreement in parliament.

    Speaking of Medvedev’s approval of the agreement, Yildiz noted that it will accelerate the work on the project. Yildiz expects to meet Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin, in Istanbul in mid-December to discuss the details related to forming the project company. Once those issues are resolved, Yildiz expects the project to proceed at a much smoother pace and overcome licensing issues, and obtain permission for the construction to commence (Cihan, November 29).

    Ankara believes that from its partnership with Moscow, it will also receive help in developing its own nuclear technological know-how and infrastructure. Unlike its critics, the government believes that foreign partnerships will not hinder this objective. For instance, responding to questions in parliament, Yildiz referred to the experience of South Korea, noting that while that country relied upon imports to start building its nuclear plants in the 1970’s, it is now one of the countries which has developed its own nuclear technology.

    Perhaps, in appreciation of the South Korean success story, Ankara held talks with the South Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) over the construction of the second plant in the Black Sea coastal city of Sinop. This coincided with South Korea’s new strategy of expansion in a bid to construct nuclear plants overseas (EDM, March 24). After an optimistic start, marked by various bilateral meetings and an exchange of high level visits, it was revealed that due to conflict over prices, state purchase guarantees and the share of state ownership in the nuclear plant, the talks had broken down. Yildiz argued that Turkey had a “plan B” if it proved unable to reach an agreement with South Korea and it will remain committed to its objective of having two plants by 2023 (www.usak.org.tr, Today’s Zaman, November 10). Quite expectedly, it was announced during Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s, visit to South Korea that the talks came to an inconclusive end (Anadolu Ajansi, November 13).

    After the failure of the talks with South Korea, Yildiz said that Turkey would continue its quest for a second agreement. Yildiz also ruled out the possibility that Ankara may grant the second site to Moscow. “Neither Russia, nor Turkey are considering [a second agreement],” Yildiz said. Yildiz announced that the Japanese Toshiba would be invited to Turkey for negotiations on the planned construction of the second plant. Although Tokyo has wanted to enter into such talks with Ankara for some time, the Turkish government has avoided this, “out of courtesy for the ongoing talks with South Korea,” as Yildiz put it (Anadolu Ajansi, November 15, November 25).

    Nonetheless, it is instructive to note that, although no official contact with Japan on nuclear cooperation had taken place, the Turkish energy ministry and the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization signed a letter of intent to cooperate on clean energy, energy productivity and the use of renewable energy in Ankara (Anadolu Ajansi, November 9). Therefore, the “plan B”’ Yildiz referred to was evidently the Japanese option. Turkey seems determined to consider seriously the diversification of its nuclear partnerships, by exploring, and perhaps pitting against each other, all options on the table.

    https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-strengthens-nuclear-cooperation-with-russia/

  • Turkey closer to Korean nuclear deal

    Turkey closer to Korean nuclear deal

    The South Korean government has signed a preliminary agreement with Turkey to build two nuclear power plants on the country’s Black Sea coast.

    If the two countries reach a commercial agreement by the end of next year, as they hope, Turkey would become the second export market for South Korean nuclear reactors after the UAE.

    800px Flag of South KoreaYesterday’s announcement, made during a visit to Seoul by Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, revived hopes of a South Korean win in the country after a first round of nuclear contracts was awarded to Russian companies last month. “The memorandum of understanding marks the first government-level understanding of the will to co-operate on it,” Yoon Sang-jik, the senior secretary for knowledge economy at the office of the South Korean president, told the state news agency Yonhap.

    “It means the first concrete step towards a deal.”

    Two senior sources in South Korea’s nuclear industry said the deal was preliminary and a number of important questions still had to be addressed.

    “The media are talking about it a lot but it’s still under discussion between both countries,” one source said.

    Officials at Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), the state-owned power company that leads the country’s overseas nuclear programme, had mentioned Turkey as a key potential market along with Jordan, China, Romania, the US and Finland.

    That was after winning the US$20 billion (Dh73.45bn) contract at the end of last year to build four reactors in Abu Dhabi by 2020.

    A KEPCO official said in April that the Korean industry aimed to supply 20 per cent of the world’s nuclear market by 2030, equal to about 80 reactors.

    But the company’s officials have been cautious about deals in which KEPCO would help to finance a reactor in a foreign country and make its return on the long-term sale of electricity. In its agreement to build four reactors on Turkey’s southern coast last month, Russia said it would fully cover the upfront, multibillion-dollar cost of each of the plants and eventually sell 51 per cent back to Turkish state power companies.

    Choi Kyung-hwan, the South Korean minister of knowledge economy, told local press on Thursday that providing financing for reactors in Turkey could prove to be a hurdle for Korean companies.

    “We can’t build plants by wholly establishing funds by ourselves like Russia proposed to Turkey,” Mr Choi was quoted as saying. “Turkey has to be the main player in financing the project, while Korea will partly participate.”

    Turkey has barely any reserves of oil or natural gas and has planned the construction of civilian nuclear reactors for years to reduce its reliance on gas imported from Russia and Iran.

    It initially planned to award construction contracts for nuclear power plants in 1997 but delayed the decision several times and ultimately abandoned the proposal.

    In March 2008, the government invited a new round of commercial bids but received only one, from Russia’s AtomStroyExport.

    The deal was cancelled last year but revived by last month’s political agreement for Russian companies to build four power plants with capacity of 1,200 megawatts.

    The first plant will be in operation in as little as eight years, depending on how long it takes government regulators to approve a construction licence.

    The Turkish government has secured the crucial support of the US government, with which it finalised a civilian nuclear co-operation agreement in May 2008.

    The agreement gives Turkey access to US nuclear parts and expertise that are the basis of many reactor designs in use around the world.

    Chris Stanton
    Last Updated: June 15. 2010 8:03PM UAE / June 15. 2010 4:03PM GMT

    Source: thenational.ae

  • Turkey and Russia Conclude Energy Deals

    Turkey and Russia Conclude Energy Deals

    By SEBNEM ARSU
    a1Published: August 6, 2009

    ISTANBUL — Russia and Turkey concluded energy agreements on Thursday that will support Turkey’s drive to become a regional hub for fuel transshipments while helping Moscow maintain its monopoly on natural gas shipments from Asia to Europe.

    Turkey granted the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom use of its territorial waters in the Black Sea, under which the company wants to route its so-called South Stream pipeline to gas markets in Eastern and Southern Europe.

    In return, a Russian oil pipeline operator agreed to join a consortium to build a pipeline across the Anatolian Peninsula, from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and Gazprom affirmed a commitment to expand an existing Black Sea gas pipeline for possible transshipment across Turkey to Cyprus or Israel.

    Energy companies in both countries agreed to a joint venture to build conventional electric power plants, and the Interfax news agency in Russia reported that Prime MinisterVladimir V. Putin offered to reopen talks on Russian assistance to Turkey in building nuclear power reactors.

    The agreements were signed in Ankara, the Turkish capital, in meetings between Mr. Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who has joined Mr. Putin on several energy projects, attended the ceremony. The Italian company Eni broke ground on the trans-Anatolian oil pipeline this year.

    While the offer of specific pipeline deals and nuclear cooperation represented a new tactic by Mr. Putin, the wider struggle for dominance of the Eurasian pipelines is a long-running chess match in which he has often excelled.

    As he has in the past, Mr. Putin traveled to Turkey with his basket of tempting strategic and economic benefits immediately after a similar mission by his opponents. A month ago, European governments signed an agreement in Turkey to support the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline, which would compete directly with the South Stream project.

    By skirting Russian territory, the Nabucco pipeline would undercut Moscow’s monopoly on European natural gas shipments and the pricing power and political clout that come with it. That may explain why Nabucco, which cannot go forward without Turkey’s support, has encountered a variety of obstacles thrown up by the Russian government, including efforts to deny it vital gas supplies in the East and a customer base in the West.

    Turkey and other countries in the path of Nabucco have been eager players in this geopolitical drama, entertaining offers from both sides. Turkish authorities have even tried, without much success, to leverage the pipeline negotiations to further Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, while keeping options with Russia open, too.

    “These countries are more than happy to sign agreements with both parties,” Ana Jelenkovic, an analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, said in a telephone interview from London. “There’s no political benefit to shutting out or ceasing energy relations with Russia.”

    Under the deal Mr. Putin obtained Thursday, Gazprom will be allowed to proceed with seismic and environmental tests in Turkey’s exclusive economic zone, necessary preliminary steps for laying the South Stream pipe, Prime Minister Erdogan said at a news conference.

    After the meeting, Mr. Putin said, “We agreed on every issue.”

    The trans-Anatolian oil pipeline also marginally improves Russia’s position in the region. The pipeline is one of two so-called Bosporus bypass systems circumventing the straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, which are operating at capacity in tanker traffic.

    The preferred Western route is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which allows companies to ship Caspian Basin crude oil to the West without crossing Russian territory; the pipeline instead crosses the former Soviet republic of Georgia and avoids the crowded straits by cutting across Turkey to the Mediterranean.

    Russia prefers northbound pipelines out of the Caspian region that terminate at tanker terminals on the Black Sea. The success of this plan depends, in turn, on creating additional capacity in the Bosporus bypass routes. Russia is backing two such pipelines.

    Mr. Putin’s offer to move ahead with a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Turkey suggests a sweetening of the overall Russian offer on energy deals with Turkey, while both Western and Russian proposals are on the table.

    The nuclear aspect of the deal drew protests. About a dozen Greenpeace protesters were surrounded by at least 200 armored police officers in central Ankara on Thursday.

    Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Moscow.

    The New York Times