Russia’s state-owned power company Rosatom is the leading bidder for the construction of Turkey’s second nuclear plant, Bloomberg quotes Turkey’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar as saying. The development of the plant — called Sinop — is likely to involve a public-private joint venture, with licensing expected to take two to three years. Rosatom is the developer of Turkey’s first nuclear plant in Akkuyu currently under commissioning, making it “well placed to also build the Sinop plant,” Bayraktar noted. The Sinop project has an investment ticket of USD 40 bn.

Who are the other contenders? “South Korea is the other country that’s known to have held talks on the planned four-reactor facility on the Black Sea coast,” Bloomberg added.

About the Sinop plant: The project is owned by Turkey Nuclear Energy, Turkish news outlet Daily Sabah reported last year. The firm said it is planning to commence excavations at the site after finalizing investment negotiations with technology companies. The plant will consist of four pressurized water reactor nuclear power units, each with a net installed capacity of 1.14 GW, totalling 4.56 GW.

Sinop will have an advantage over Akkuyu: Sinop as the location has the advantage of having cooling water temperatures about 5°C lower than those at Akkuyu allowing about 1% greater power output from any thermal unit, according to the Nuclear Business Platform.

Turkey ? nuclear: Turkey aims to add over 20 GW of nuclear capacity to its energy mix by mid-century, but may reach its goal 10 years ahead of that if the Sinop site and a third planned nuclear plant in the Thrace region reach their maximum capacity of eight reactors, Bayraktar said.

Russia is not the only one interested in Turkey’s nuclear sector: Negotiations are ongoing with China on the Thrace project and with the US on small modular reactors, the minister told Bloomberg, adding that US nuclear technology giant Westinghouse Electric is amongst those interested in both small and conventional nuclear projects in Turkey. Executives from the US tech company are scheduled to visit Turkey later this month.

About Rosatom’s first operating nuclear plant: Russia and Turkey signed an agreement to establish the plant in 2010, with construction starting three years after, according to the project’s website. The plant delivered its first fresh nuclear fuel last year produced in the project’s first unit. Three other units are still under construction, with Rostom selecting TSM Enerji in 2022 to complete construction of the USD 20 bn plant expected to eventually supply up to 10% of the country’s electricity.

The Russian firm is active in the region: Rosatom kicked off construction on the fourth and final reactor of Egypt’s 4.8 GW Dabaa nuclear power plant in January. TVEL — a subsidiary of Russian state-owned nuclear developer Rosatom — also signed an agreement with the Egyptian government in February for the supply of low-grade uranium components. The company is also helping Morocco build an experimental nuclear reactor to power its growing demand for desalination and partnered with Algeria’s Ministry of Energy and Mines on the use of nuclear energy for the next two years.

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