Feasibility works for Turkey's first nuclear power plant may be completed earlier than foreseen

ANKARA (A.A) - Feasibility works for Turkey's first nuclear power plant could be ready earlier than foreseen, an executive of the project said on Friday. Rauf Kasumov, the deputy director general of Akkuyu NGS Corporation, said that the company was working hard to implement the nuclear power plant project in Akkuyu town of the southern province of Mersin. "Feasibility works are progressing more quickly than we have planned, and we may be able to start the construction six months earlier than we foresee if we keep this pace," Kasumov told AA correspondent.  Earlier, first concrete is planned for late 2013 (the second half of 2013), but it may be at the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013.  In May 2010, the governments of Turkey and Russian Federation signed an agreement to cooperate for constructing and operating a nuclear power plant.   The agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on cooperation in relation to the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant in Akkuyu site envisaged establishing four units of 1,200 MWe Russian design VVER reactors. In December 2010, Russia established a company, "Akkuyu NGS Elektrik Uretim  Corp." (APC: Akkuyu Project Company) to built, operate and decommission the NPP units. APC applied to the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) in February 2011 for being recognized as an owner, according to the Article 6 of the Decree on Licensing of Nuclear Installations, and Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) recognized it as the owner. In March 2011, APC started site investigations in Akkuyu for updating the site characteristics and parameters according to the national procedures laid out in the Decree on Licensing of Nuclear Installations.