Turkey's first nuclear power plant continues to face mounting challenges, with construction delays, safety concerns, and unfavorable financial terms raising serious questions about the project's impact on consumers and national energy security.
According to Turkish news outlet Haber Sol, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project has been plagued by complications since its inception. After realizing that a conventional tender process would not work, the AKP government abandoned traditional procurement methods in favor of an international agreement that effectively circumvented the Public Procurement Law, Court of Accounts oversight, and Constitutional Court jurisdiction.
The agreement between the Turkish and Russian governments was signed on May 12, 2010, establishing a framework for cooperation on constructing and operating the nuclear facility at the Akkuyu site. However, construction activities only began in 2018, delayed by international developments including the Arab Spring upheaval and the 2015 jet downing crisis between Turkey and Russia. The project gained momentum following improved Turkish-Russian relations after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, with "super incentives" attracting Turkish contractors Cengiz İnşaat and İÇTAŞ to join construction efforts in 2018-19.
Despite repeated promises that the first unit would become operational in 2023, electricity production has yet to begin two years later. The project is operated by Akkuyu Nükleer A.Ş., a company entirely financed by Russian capital. Under the agreement's terms, Russia must maintain at least 51% ownership throughout the plant's existence, ensuring it will never be truly domestically controlled—merely a Russian facility located on Turkish soil.
The financial arrangements have raised significant concerns among critics. Turkey has committed to purchasing 70% of energy from the first two units and 30% from the third and fourth units at 12.35 US cents per kilowatt-hour (excluding VAT) for 15 years—approximately double the current market price of 6.5-7.5 US cents. Additionally, the land was provided free of charge for the plant's 60-year operational life and subsequent decommissioning period, with no rental fees paid to the state. Despite these generous incentives, privileges, high purchase guarantees, and exemption from oversight, the project remains incomplete.
The project has been marred by serious safety and labor issues from the outset. In 2014, an environmental impact assessment report was approved under controversial circumstances, allegedly containing forged signatures and inadequate evaluations, with the favorable decision conveniently timed to coincide with Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey. Reports of cracked concrete and foundation problems emerged soon after construction began. The site has since become what sources describe as a "massive labor hell," with workers facing unpaid wages, poor treatment, lack of oversight, and corruption. By the end of 2024, at least 19 workers had died at the site, with countless additional workplace accidents reported.
Recent complications include US sanctions and financing crises that have further jeopardized the project. The political sensitivity became evident when Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar visited the United States while his deputy simultaneously attended a "World Nuclear Week" ceremony in Moscow for the reactor vessel's departure to Turkey. Russia subsequently announced that financing issues had been resolved and construction would continue, demonstrating how political currents continue to buffet the project.
For Turkish consumers, the plant's completion offers little economic relief. The facility is expected to supply 10% of Turkey's electricity at double the current market rate, inevitably leading either to higher consumer bills or losses for EÜAŞ, the state electricity purchasing authority. Complete dependence on Russia for fuel creates additional vulnerabilities, particularly given the project's demonstrated susceptibility to political turbulence between the two nations. The impossibility of insulating politics from such disruptions raises serious concerns about the plant's safe operation.
Critics point to the Fukushima disaster as a stark warning about profit-driven nuclear facilities. A privately operated nuclear plant governed by profit motives rather than public safety, they argue, poses catastrophic risks not only to Mersin province but to the entire region's population.
Photo: Gemini AI.