Turkey’s First Nuclear Plant Likely to Go Operational by 2022

The first Turkish nuclear power plant, a Russian designed project, is planned to be brought online in 2022, materials relevant to the Wednesday meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveal.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Erdogan arrived in Moscow earlier today for a one-day visit to attend the opening of one of Europe’s largest mosques near the center of the city. The Turkish leader discussed a number of bilateral and global issues with the Russian leader.

"The construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant Akkuyu (four blocks, 1200 megawatt (MW) each, the forecasting commissioning date — year 2022)," the materials read.

In 2010, Moscow and Ankara signed an agreement that a subsidiary of Russia's nuclear energy company Rosatom would build, own, and operate a power plant at the Akkuyu site in the southern Turkish province of Mersin. In 2013, Ankara commissioned Rosatom to implement the project, the cost of which is estimated at about $20 billion. Construction began in April 2015.

The Akkuyu will produce about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The NPP is expected to generate electricity for about 60 years.