Yildiz: UAE could finance S. Korean bid for 2nd nuke plant

The United Arab Emirates government could provide financial support for South Korea to build Turkey's planned second nuclear power plant should Seoul win an anticipated tender to construct the plant, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters Thursday in Kahramanmaras. Yıldız was speaking during the signing ceremony for a long-anticipated deal between the Turkish government and the state-controlled Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) of the United Arab Emirates. Turkey has been in negotiations with South Korea, China, Japan and Canada for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop. An agreement was reached with Russia in 2010 to build the first plant in Mersin's Akkuyu district. Yildiz said on Dec. 26 that South Korea would opt to withdraw from the negotiations due to the Turkish government's reluctance to offer a state guarantee for the nuclear project's financing. "We said earlier we have our own red lines. … The financial burden of this second nuclear plant can't be put on the state," he said on Thursday. Yıldız, however, added that UAE government might be willing to provide financial support for a South Korean company to build the plant.