Turkey assures Russia of buying 70 pct of nuclear electricity

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz yesterday said that Turkey had given guarantee to Russia to buy 70 percent of electricity to be generated from Turkey's first nuclear power plant. As part of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's trip to Ankara earlier this week, Turkey and Russia inked a $20-billion deal for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear plant. Speaking at the 2nd Oil and Gas Summit in Istanbul, Yildiz was asked about details of the agreements. He said Turkish government gave guarantee to purchase 70 percent of electricity to be generated from the first two reactors of the plant. "I can say it would be 30 percent for the remaining two reactors," Yildiz said. Yildiz said the government would make public later all the details about the percentage of shares in the nuclear plant. Turkey has long been eager to build nuclear power plants and plans to build two nuclear plants, one in Sinop on the northern coast of Black Sea and the other in Mersin on the Mediterranean coast in the south. Yildiz recalled that Turkey signed a series of agreements with Russia on Wednesday, and several of these agreements were on energy sector. Turkish and Russian officials signed an agreement on establishment and operation of a nuclear power plant in Akkuyu hamlet of Turkey's southern province of Mersin.