Turkey to construct nuclear plant in north

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz over the weekend said that they were working on the construction of a nuclear power plant in the northern province of Sinop. Yildiz Turkey had reached a fruitful stage in its initiative to construct a nuclear power plant in the Black Sea province. "Working groups will try to develop the agreement regarding Sinop soon," Yıldız said, adding Turkey may sign an agreement with South Korea if conditions allowed. He said Turkey was also open to other proposals for the construction and finance of the nuclear power plant, and would reassess the situation if new proposals came from other countries. Turkey aims to construct nuclear power plants capable of providing 8,000 to 10,00 megawatts of energy. To this end, the country plans to open both a planned nuclear power plant in Akkuyu hamlet of the Mediterranean province of Mersin, and the other in Sinop. Turkey and Russia signed an agreement Wednesday to construct the nuclear power plant in Akkuyu while Turkey and South Korea signed a cooperation protocol in March to establish a nuclear energy power plant in Sinop. South Korea currently has 20 nuclear power plants and is constructing eight others on its territory as it aims to have nuclear plants 40 percent of the country’s energy needs by 2020. At an earlier speech Saturday, Yildiz said Turkey, Azerbaijan, Greece and Italy would hold a quartet on the natural gas summit. He said he had a meeting with his Greek counterpart regarding a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to Italy via Turkey and Greece. “Within this framework, we will hold a quartet natural gas summit either in Turkey or Greece," Yildiz told reporters in Athens. Turkey was a natural gas importing country, and the more pipelines passed through Turkey, the more beneficial it would be for Turkey and its citizens. Turkey and Greece could develop joint projects on wind energy, he added.