Turkey is holding discussions with the United States about building large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMRs), a senior Turkish Energy Ministry official announced on Tuesday, July 2.
Yusuf Ceylan, speaking at a conference on nuclear power plants, said, "The USA is showing serious interest in Turkey's goal of increasing its nuclear energy capacity and building new power plants," as per Reuters.
Regarding the projects, Ceylan mentioned, "We can consider the areas of existing power plants or new power plants. We are negotiating with the USA for both large-scale power plants and small modular reactors. This is a statement of intent."
Last month, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake told Reuters that Ankara had discussed building SMRs with the U.S. and other countries.
Meanwhile, negotiations are also ongoing with South Korea and Russia for a second nuclear power plant planned in Sinop, in the Black Sea region, and with China's SPIC for a third nuclear power plant in Thrace, northwest Turkey.
Construction of Turkey's first 4,800 MW nuclear power plant by Russia's Rosatom is underway in Akkuyu, in the Mediterranean region.
Turkey intends to construct three nuclear plants, each with four reactors, and supplement them with SMRs to achieve a total electricity generation capacity of 20,000 MW, aiming to diversify its energy production portfolio.
