Asia

Turkey Nixes Nuclear Power Plant Deal With Japan

Monday, January 27, 2020

Turkey has canceled an agreement with a Japanese-led consortium to build a 4,500-megawatt nuclear plant in Sinop in northern Turkey along the Black Sea coast. The Sinop site would have been Turkey’s second nuclear plant

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said that results of feasibility studies conducted by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries did not meet the ministry’s expectations with respect to completion date and pricing.

The Japanese and Turkish governments originally agreed to the venture in 2013.

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Erdoğan: Sinop Nuclear Plant Project Halted

Friday, June 28, 2019

"We are not at the desired point on the Sinop nuclear power plant project," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told daily Nikkei.

Erdoğan arrived in Japan today for the G20 summit in Osaka, where he will meet with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump.

Responding to a question that says, "Feasibility studies show that the cost of a proposed nuclear power plant in the city of Sinop is more than double the initial estimate, and the Japanese-backed project has been halted," Erdoğan said, "The feasibility study report and cost analysis, which is prepared by the Japanese side, was examined by our relevant institutions in detail. We met a picture that is not compatible with our initial agreement in terms of both cost and project calendar."

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Hungary working to modify funding for Russian-built nuclear plant

Monday, January 28, 2019

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary is working to modify financing for a nuclear plant being built by Russia so it only starts repaying the loan once the two reactors begin supplying power, a Hungarian minister said, after an EU review of the plans contributed to delays in the project.

The existing 2 Gigawatt Paks plant, which accounts for half of Hungary's power capacity and meets a third of consumption, started up in the 1980s and will be decommissioned in the 2030s.

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Hungary-Russia nuclear deal faces EU obstacle

Monday, February 23, 2015

Hungary’s deal to award up to €12bn in nuclear power contracts to a Russian state-owned company is facing a growing threat from EU regulators who have the power to block the project.

A veto or prohibitive fine from Brussels would be a bruising setback for Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, who has made the project the centrepiece of his strategy to forge deeper political and economic ties with Russia, despite the ostracising of Moscow by the west over Ukraine.

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Global nuclear decommissioning cost seen underestimated, may spiral

Monday, January 19, 2015

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - German utility E.ON's breakup has led to worries that funds set aside for decommissioning reactors will not suffice, but globally the cost of unwinding nuclear is uncertain as estimates range widely.

As ageing first-generation reactors close, the true cost of decommissioning will be crucial for the future of the nuclear industry, already ailing following the 2011 Fukushima disaster and competition from cheap shale gas, falling oil prices and a flood of renewable energy from wind and solar.

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Signatures on engineer assessment of Turkey’s first nuclear plant forged: Report

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The signatures of two nuclear engineers who prepared the environmental impact assessment report (ÇED) for Turkey’s prospective nuclear plant in Akkuyu were forged, ahead of the final approval of the mandatory document to allow the facility’s construction, daily BirGün reported Jan. 12.

The plant is scheduled to be built in the southeastern Mediterranean district of Akkuyu.

According to the report, an expert analysis carried out upon the demand of the Chamber of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), which closely monitors legal procedures, has revealed that signatures were forged twice at different stages of the process.

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Russia to extend US$270m export credit to Armenia for extending nuclear power operation

Thursday, December 4, 2014

(Armenian News, Yerevan, 19 November 2014) Armenia has approved a proposal for the extension of an Armenian-Russian intergovernmental agreement on cooperation extending the operation of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian nuclear-power plant (NPP). Armenia’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervan Zakharyan noted that, under the agreement, Russia is to extend a $270m export credit to Armenia.

Armenia said Sept. 13 it would extend the life of its ageing nuclear power plant, despite safety concerns over the Soviet-era facility in an active seismic zone.

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Hungary cuts off natural gas shipments to Ukraine

Monday, September 29, 2014

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary unexpectedly cut off natural gas shipments to Ukraine on Thursday, days after getting assurances from Russian supplier Gazprom that it would get enough deliveries to fill up its own gas storage facilities.

Hungary had been sending an estimated 3 million cubic meters of natural gas a day to Ukraine, which has not received any from Russia since June. But FGSZ, Hungary's gas transmission firm, said it suspended the flow to Ukraine indefinitely to ensure pipeline capacity for incoming deliveries as it builds its own reserves.

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Russia claims it is still talking with Ukraine over nuclear project

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom has said that negotiations are still underway on expanding Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant despite reports this week that Ukraine had cancelled the project.

As tensions mounted in Ukraine yesterday, with its government announcing the capture of nine Russian soldiers on Ukrainian territory, a Rosatom representative told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that it had not received any notice about Ukraine’s pulling out of the construction project to build the third and fourth power units at the plant, and that both sides are continuing negotiations.

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Westinghouse urges EU to break dependency on Russian nuclear fuel

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Westinghouse, the Japanese-US atomic group, is pressing the EU to introduce competition rules that will break eastern Europe’s dependence on Russian nuclear fuel.

While the crisis in Ukraine has focused attention on Europe’s vulnerability to a cut in supplies of gas from Russia, Westinghouse argues that Brussels must also respond to similar security risks posed by Moscow’s control of nuclear fuel in the eastern EU.

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