On April 13-14 Russian delegation headed by the General Director of the State Corporation “Rosatom” Sergey Kiriyenko has visited Turkey. The purpose of the visit was discussion of stages of the project NPP “Akkuyu”, as well as issues of cooperation between Russia and Turkey in scientific and academic spheres.
“Project “Akkuyu”, which will be implemented in Turkey, is the most important one for Russia”, said Sergey Kiriyenko on the results of negotiations with Minister of energy and natural resources of Turkey Taner Yildiz. “In spite of the difficult economic situation, we have already received 51 billion rubles from the budget this year. All necessary equipment has already been ordered that gives us sufficient time to reduce the time of construction”.
One of important points of the visit was conclusion of agreements on training of Turkish students in Russian universities in the field of nuclear energy and development of joint training programmes. Rector of the National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI” Mikhail Strikhanov signed cooperation agreements of the University in scientific, educational and social spheres with the Ankara University, Istanbul Technical University and Hacettepe University (Ankara). Also MEPhI has signed an agreement with the Ankara University on academic cooperation in the framework of the master program of double degree.
Currently more than 250 Turkish students study in the MEPhI in the framework of the program on training of specialists in the nuclear energy sector. After receiving Russian education they will work with innovative high-tech equipment and be responsible for the electricity production at NPP “Akkuyu”, foundation stone of which was laid by the Russian and Turkish representatives during this visit. The station in Mersin is a strategic project for Turkey; it will be the first atomic power plant in the Republic.
All the documents are signed at the moment and environmental permits are obtained. The total cost of the project is about $ 100 billion. Turkey plans to start operation of the NPP in 2020.
