Sergey Kondratiev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the internet portal Vzglyad.ru about Turkey's plans to build two more nuclear power plants.
Turkey plans to build two more nuclear power plants following the Akkuyu NPP project developed by Rosatom, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The energy crisis in Europe, caused by a shortage of gas, forced European countries to return to the "hated" coal and think about the need for nuclear energy. This clearly increased the determination of Turkey, which decided to become not only a gas hub, but also an atomic power.
Nuclear power is attractive both for economic reasons (low cost per kilowatt-hour) and for environmental reasons. Although the European Union does not recognize nuclear energy as "green", in fact it is low-carbon generation.
However, Turkey is unlikely to be able to build new nuclear power plants on those extremely attractive conditions on which Rosatom decided to build the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, he said.“The best life cycle emissions for the newest nuclear power plants are only two grams per kilowatt hour. Wind power plants have the same indicator. And for solar power plants it is much worse,” Sergey Kondratiev says.
Now all the risks of the project are borne by the Russian side. It is building, looking for funding, while an agreement with Ankara to guarantee Rosatom a return on investment has not been signed.
“Turkey has received an investor who has created both construction jobs and will put into operation a power plant that will generate more than 30 billion kilowatt • hours per year when all four power units are launched. At the same time, the investor does not require any privileges and guarantees,” Kondratiev says.
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