Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Turkey this week to talk energy with the country’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

Energy companies in both countries agreed to a joint venture to build conventional electric power plants, and the Interfax news agency in Russia reported that Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin offered to reopen talks on Russian assistance to Turkey in building nuclear power reactors.

Greenpeace activists revealed nuclear matryoshka dolls of Putin and Erdogan in Ankara’s Kizilay Square. There are certainly surprises waiting inside the Russian-Turkey energy deal, not least Turkey losing energy security by relying on Russian nuclear fuel for any reactor built by Russia’s Atomstroiexport. Add to that the risks of cost and construction over runs, waste management problems, high decommissioning costs, and the distractions from renewable energy sources and energy efficiency programmes, and you have to ask, do we really want to see what’s inside Turkey’s nuclear matryoshka?

(In an attempt to sweeten the nuclear deal and bring down the extortionate construction costs, the consortium bidding to build Turkey’s first nuclear reactor ‘has revised down its price to $0.1235 per kilowatt hour from a previous price of more that $0.15’. That the announcement was made the day before Putin arrived in Ankara was, no doubt, a coincidence. $0.1235 per kilowatt hour is still five cents more expensive than the current average price of electricity in Turkey.)

Posted by Justin at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Turkey’s bid to build its first nuclear reactor has had more comebacks than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. Every time you think it’s down and beaten, up it climbs again and continues lumbering and clanking along, looking increasingly pathetic as bits fall off.

POW! The bidding process for the contract to build the reactor receives just one bid. It’s down but not out. Up it gets…

CRASH! That one bid says the electricity produced by the new plant would cost 21 cents per kilowatt hour - three times the current average price of electricity in Turkey. Surely this is the end…? No, it doesn’t know when to quit…

BAM! The bid also has technical shortcomings and stipulates a reliance on Russian nuclear fuel. Down it goes for the third time.

But you know what? With a stoic ‘I’ll be back’, the plan refuses to die and is here again for yet another sequel. This time the story has a new hero but it’s all so very familiar. Who looks like they will step up and save this seemingly-doomed plan? Yep, you guessed it, the Turkish taxpayer…

A state energy company may now become a partner in the project to boost investment and ensure its completion, [the Sabah newspaper] said, citing unidentified government officials.

It’s a story we’ve seen over and over again: the nuclear industry, a towering giant that isn’t as impressive or as cool as it looks, having to be rescued by the tiny but brave ordinary underdog public. It’s time for a new script.

Posted by Justin at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Today’s Zaman: Turkey's nuclear dreams face uncertain future
’Turkey's long-running dream of having a nuclear power plant is surrounded by uncertainty despite the fact that a recently concluded tender on the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant is about to be finalized. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said the final decision on the tender would be made in June, but it seems that incertitude about the matter will not be cleard up easily even if the tender is discussed at a Cabinet meeting. As only one company entered the tender and the price offered is considerably high, the Cabinet will not be able to make an easy decision. Moreover, the global economic crisis has taken its toll on funds that were to be allocated to the nuclear power plant contract.’

Continue reading "Nuclear News: Turkey's nuclear dreams face uncertain future" »

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