Thursday 5 April 2018

Russia starts building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant

The leaders of Russia and Turkey have officially launched the start of the work to build the former country’s first nuclear power station.

The $20 billion (£14bn) Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is to be built by Russian state firm ROSATOM and will have a total capacity of 4.8GW.

President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan were part of a ceremony via video and signed agreements to further strengthen their relations and advance their co-operation.

The nuclear plant is expected to provide 10% of the nation’s electricity demand and be commissioned in 2023.

Mr Putin said: “Owing to Akkuyu project, new up-to-date, well paid jobs will be created and new cutting-edge productions and technologies will be developed in Russia and Turkey.”

Construction of the first of four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was rececntly completed.