Turkey expresses political will on nuclear power plant

Turkey has the political will to achieve its goal on the nuclear power plant issue, a high-ranking official said on Thursday.

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz made the remarks on the sideline of the two-day "Black Sea 2nd Oil and Gas Summit" held in Istanbul.

He said that Turkey and Russia had fruitful talks and signed agreements supporting their strategic cooperation in Ankara on Wednesday.

Referring to an agreement signed by the two countries on construction of a nuclear power plant, Yildiz said establishing such a plant was a long-term process, adding that it would take nearly 70 years in licensing, construction, operation and demolition of the power plant.

"Therefore, obstacles and rise and falls to be faced during this process should not confuse us. Turkey has the political will to achieve this goal," he added.

The planned nuclear power plant will be located in the Mediterranean city of Mersin, 932 km southeast of Istanbul.

According to the agreement between Russia and Turkey, the electricity produced by the plant will be sold on an average of 0. 12 dollar a unit, and Turkey will purchase the electricity produced by the plant for 15 years. After the guaranteed purchase period of 15 years, Turkey will receive 20 percent of the net profit from every unit of electricity produced.

The nuclear project will be completed in seven years and will be constructed by a firm created with 100 percent Russian capital.

Yildiz said that Turkey would use as much domestic material and domestic technology as possible in the construction of the nuclear power plant. He said, "Over the next seven years we expect 20 billion U.S. dollars in activity."

If the second planned nuclear power in the Black Sea city of Sinop starts construction, he said that it would be another 20 billion dollars in the next seven years.

Turkey has been ready to start its nuclear adventure for 40 years now, said Yildiz. He said that the ruling Justice and Development party wanted to be the one to present nuclear energy to Turkey, "We do not have that culture yet, and we want to earn experience in it."

Source:Xinhua