Controversy over the safety of nuclear power should be dispelled to focus on the gains that Turkey can achieve in its first nuclear power plant,Oleg Titov, acting deputy CEO of operations at the Akkuyu Nuclear Joint Stock Company said.
"The civilized world has long ago learned to operate nuclear power plants, while lessons from past mistakes have been learnt at a very high technical level," Titov said.
Titov told Anadolu Agencythat the construction of a new nuclear power plant has to be undertaken comprehensively. Headded thatif the planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant in the Mersin province of Turkey generateselectricity today, it would cover 17 percentof the national electricity demand ofTurkey.
"Nuclear generation will reduce imports of hydrocarbons; andsavings can be spent for development inother spheres.These are not hollow words: just look at developed countrieswhere the power system is diversified through using various sources of electricity," he said.
Titov said that those who benefit from negative speculationon nuclear accidents do so eitherfor their own promotion or they do not conduct proper research into nuclear power.
"Rosatom[Russia's state atomic energy corporation]alone has eighty nuclear power plantunits in the process of construction or under negotiations. This fact demonstrates that nuclear energy is of high demand worldwide.Developed countries are starting construction and are puttingnuclear power unitsinto operation year by year," he added.
The construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu NPP, located in the Mediterranean coast of the country will begin in 2016. The joint venture between Turkey and Russia was agreed in 2010. Russia's Rosatom will finance, build and run the $22 billion plant, which will have a life cycle of 60 years.
According to Titov, the constructionof a nuclear power plant is only part of a story, asit is necessary to ensure its stable operation with good economic performance once construction is finished.
"Thousands of professionals will be involved in the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project in Turkey and Turkish companies will gain relevant experience to participate in tenders for the construction of nuclear power plants in different countries," he said.
Titov stressed that the Akkuyu plant will have inherent safety systems built into its design to ensure safety measures areimplemented in cases of emergencies.
The Akkuyu Nuclear plantis the world's first nuclear power plant project implemented on a 'build-own-operate'principles. It means that the Akkuyu Joint Stock Company will build, own and operate the first nuclear power plant in Turkish territory. During the implementation of the $20 billionproject, Turkish subcontractingcompanies will undertake some foundation andconstruction work.
The Intergovernmental Agreement forAkkuyustates that Turkey guarantees the purchase of a fixed amount of electricity fromAkkuyu Nuclear Joint Stock Company.
The agreement for the purchase of electricity from the Akkuyu plant's four unitsis under preparation. According to the provisional agreement, Turkey will buy 70 percentof electricity generated by Unit 1 and Unit 2; 30 percentof Unit 3 and Unit 4 for 15 years from the date of commencement of commercial operations of each unit.
- Fears on nuclear accident
"Rosatom's safety standards conform to the best international practices and standards. All Russian safety systems related to nuclear power meet the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency,World Association of Nuclear Operators andEuropean Utility Requirements,"Titovsaid.
Titov said that many factors contribute to the high degree of safety of nuclear power plantsbased on Russian technology. The key ones are the principle of inherent reactor safety, multiple safety barriers and multiple redundancies of safety channels.
In addition, the safety culture is implemented at all stages of the nuclear power plantlife cycle: from site selection to decommissioning. Largely due to the combination of these factors, the experience of stable operation of water-cooled VVER-type reactors is already more than 1,400 reactor-years, according to Titov.
Rosatomis the largest generating company in Russia. The company ranksfourth globally in terms of nuclear power generation. Additionally, the companyranksfirst in terms of the number of simultaneously constructed nuclear power plantsin foreign countries, secondafter Australiain uranium reserves and third in terms of the volume of uranium mining, according to Rosatom's figures.
The Rosatomcompanyhas nuclear power plant constructions in many countries including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland,Iran, India and China, as well as in Armenia andUkraine.
The Russian giantprovides 40 percentof the world's uranium enrichment and has a nuclear fuel market share of 17 percent. The total amount of Rosatom's contracts is more than $100 bln.
(Anadolu Agency)
