Akkuyu nuclear plant to cut Turkish deficit by 10 pct
Akkuyu nuclear plant can reduce Turkey's balance of payment deficit by 10 percent, says Chief Executive Officer of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC
By Ovunc Kutlu and Arif Hudaverdi Yaman
ANKARA
Turkey's first planned nuclear power plant, Akkuyu, can help the country reduce its balance of payment deficit by 10 percent, says official from Akkuyu Nuclear JSC.
"Only one Akkuyu project can basically reduce the balance of payment deficit by 10 percent," Fuad Akhundov, the chief executive officer of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, told The Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
"The biggest problem for Turkey is the balance of payment deficit, which is over $40 billion, and this comes from energy," he added.
Rosatom, the state-run atomic energy corporation of Russia, signed an agreement with Turkey in 2011 to build and operate a four-reactor nuclear power plant in the Mersin province on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Akhundov stressed that Turkey imports around 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas and burns half of it to produce electricity.
"For Akkuyu to produce the same quantity of electricity - say 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year, you need something like $500 million worth of uranium," Akhundov explained.
"To produce the same amount of electricity from natural gas, you need $3.5 billion. So, for the Turkish economy, nuclear is the answer," he added.
Turkey's energy import costs totaled $239 billion in the past five years, and rose to $56 billion in 2013, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute data.
Nuclear safety
In response to concerns on the safety of nuclear plants, Akhundov emphasized that Turkey's neighboring countries also use nuclear power.
"Iran, Armenia, Russia and Hungary all have nuclear power plants and Turkey is still exposed to neighboring countries," he added.
"Neighboring countries are beyond Turkey’s control. But, if Turkey builds its own nuclear plant, it can control it," he concluded.
Rosatom officials stated last month that they are well aware of the security concerns with nuclear power plants, emphasizing that they are preparing security measures even against the strongest natural disasters.
Construction of the Akkuyu nuclear plant will begin in 2016 and the $22 billion nuclear plant will become fully operational in 2023, the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic.
Turkey's balance of payment deficit was $45.7 billion dollars in October, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
