- Title: TURKEY: Turkey, Japan push ahead on Sinop nuclear power plant
- Date: 29th October 2013
- Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (OCTOBER 29, 2013) (REUTERS) ( * BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN AND JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE ERDOGAN AND ABE SITTING NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF ERDOGAN AND ABE SIGNING AGREEMENT ON NUCLEAR PARTNERSHIP PHOTOGRAPHER ERDOGAN AND ABE SHAKING HANDS AUDIENCE ERDOGAN AND ABE H
- Embargoed: 13th November 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: International Relations,Economy,Politics,Energy
- Reuters ID: LVA34JNEMWNDZJXE8OG9ZFSZR78F
- Story Text: Turkish and Japanese leaders pledge to beef up nuclear partnership amid ongoing criticism about wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
Turkey and Japan signed an agreement on Tuesday (October 29) in a bid to bolstering nuclear partnership.
The agreement was signed by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after they they had completed technical negotiations and were beginning feasibility studies for Turkey's second nuclear power plant, a $22 billion project due to come online in a decade.
"We have signed an agreement regarding the nuclear plant construction. We have also signed a cooperation agreement. A deal has been reached between Turkish and Japanese governments as well as private companies," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a joint news conference with host Erdogan.
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Itochu Corporation , with France's GDF Suez , will build the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant in the Black Sea coastal city of Sinop, under an agreement signed in May.
Turkey's power market is growing rapidly, with electricity consumption rising 5 percent to 242 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2012 and its energy demand growth forecasts second only to those of China.
Turkey needs to add some 3,500 MW of installed power capacity annually to keep pace.
Turkey's first nuclear power plant, being built by Russia's Rosatom, is expected to start generating electricity in mid-2020.
Reactor meltdowns at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant caused by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 raised questions over atomic energy safety.
"We are aware of what happened in Fukushima but we are also aware that one can never say there won't be any accident for 100 per cent. There is always one-in-a-million chance of accident. It happens," said Erdogan.
The Turkish deal is a major point for Abe, who has been advocating the safety standards of Japan's nuclear industry following the disaster. said Abe.
Fast-growing Turkey imports almost 97 percent of its energy needs.
Turkey is among the countries to which the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear agency has referred in its predictions of steady growth in nuclear power despite the Fukushima disaster in Japan two years ago. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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