Turkey, Japan Sign $22 Billion Nuclear Power Plant Deal

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Itochu Corp., along with France’s GDF Suez, will build a 4,800-MW nuclear power plant at an estimated cost of $22 billion under an agreement signed May 3.

Reuters reported that the consortium will use French nuclear group Areva’s Atmea reactors for the project in the Black Sea coastal city of Sinop. The plant would be Turkey’s second nuclear reactor and could enter service in 2023.

The bulk of the project will be financed by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, Japan’s export credit agency, and French credit insurer Coface. The firms will also carry out a site analysis for where Turkey’s third planned nuclear power plant could be built.

Turkey imports almost 97% of its energy needs, Reuters said. The Turkish government has advocated nuclear power development and aims to have nuclear power supply 10% of the country’s electricity need by 2023.

Turkey will hold a maximum 45% stake in the project development company. The stakes held by GDF Suez and Mitsubishi are yet to be finalized, Reuters said.

Russia’s Rosatom will build Turkey’s first nuclear power station and is due to start construction on it in mid-2015. Turkey expects the facility to start producing electricity in 2019. That $20 billion plant at Mersin Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast will have four power units with installed capacity of 4,800 MW.

Sources: POWERnews, Reuters, GDF Suez

—David Wagman, Executive Editor (@EPContentDirect)

NOTE: This story was originally published on May 6