Construction of Turkey’s first nuclear plant continues as planned

Reuters' claim that "the construction work of [the] Akkuyu Nuclear [Power] Plant was stopped" was refuted by Rosatom and the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.

Reuters claimed that Russia's Rosatom halted construction work at Turkey's first nuclear power plant as relations between Moscow and Ankara continue to worsen after the downing of a Russian military jet. The news also added that the construction process was stopped despite the heavy compensation clauses.

As soon as the news was released, Energy and Natural Resources Ministry officials announced that "no statement was made by anyone in the Ministry about the cancellation of the construction work at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant." They also added that there is no such issue in terms of stopping the construction work.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the news was received in Akkuyu with surprise by the officials who emphasized that the news about the ceasing work at the plant had nothing to do with the reality of the situation. In addition, they said the construction work has been ongoing without pause, and that the construction of the project, whose contract was recently awarded to Cengiz Construction Company through a bidding process, is ongoing.

Meanwhile, Akkuyu Nuclear Plant is the first of three nuclear power plants Turkey currently plans to build to reduce its dependence on importing energy from exporters such as Russia and Iran. Turkey launched the construction of its first nuclear power plant, a $20 billion project, for greater energy self-sufficiency on Tuesday. The nuclear power station in Akkuyu in the southern province of Mersin is being built by Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom.