“Turkey wants to be independent in the energy arena. We can help them
because we have been constructing nuclear power plants for the past 30
years,” Bowers told the Anatolia News Agency during his visit to Turkey
with Georgia State Governor Nathan Deal. Bowers stressed that Georgia
Power had expertise in ensuring that nuclear energy remains both safe
and clean. Bowers and Deal are planning to meet with Turkey’s Economy
Ministry during their visit to discuss their interest in the nuclear
plant project.
“We have 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S. and 400 around the world. We
ensure that our nuclear projects are in line with all safety standards.
If there are any other recommendations or suggestions beyond this, we
can of course take those on as well,” Bowers said.
The move comes as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız
has announced that Turkey is determined to build nuclear power plants,
and aims to establish 23 nuclear units by 2023. The country is in talks
with Japan, South Korea, China and Canada for the second nuclear power
plant to be constructed in the northern province of Sinop. Russia’s
nuclear energy giant Rosatom has been awarded the contract to build
Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the southern province of Mersin.
The plant with four reactors will cost around $20 billion and will be
active for 60 years.
Deal, meanwhile, stressed that Turkey was a regional leader and that as
far as he could tell the economy was very strong. When asked about the
signing of a possible free trade agreement with the United States, Deal
said that he hoped that this issue would be taken up by Washington as
soon as possible. He noted that the slowdown in the signing of such an
agreement was due to the current European debt crisis.
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Source : hurriyetdailynews.com
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