President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his speech at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant First Nuclear Fuel Delivery Ceremony, with a live link from the Presidential Complex, expressed that the knowledge and experience here will carry Turkey to different places in the nuclear field in the future.
Stating that they are together today to share the joy of a great move that will put Turkey among the world's nuclear power countries, President Erdoğan thanked all the guests, especially the partners of the People's Alliance, and all citizens at their screens who participated in this day of pride. President Erdoğan said, “With this ceremony, we are also fulfilling one more promise we made to our nation.” used the phrase.
Stating that they witnessed the delivery of nuclear fuels to the plant site, which is the stage before the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant started production, President Erdoğan said, “With the delivery of nuclear fuels coming by air and sea to our plant, Akkuyu has now gained the identity of a nuclear facility. Thus, our country has risen to the league of nuclear power countries in the world, albeit after a 60-year delay. he said.
Explaining that today there are 422 nuclear reactors in operation in the world and 57 of them are still under construction, President Erdoğan continued his words as follows:
“The European Union gets 25 percent of its electricity from nuclear. Last year, the European Commission accepted nuclear energy as 'green energy' and eliminated the hesitations on this issue. With Akkuyu, we made our country a part of these developments. I would like to express my gratitude to all Russian Federation authorities, especially Mr. Putin, who have supported our project from the very beginning. I congratulate all the Turkish and Russian personnel who took part in the construction of our power plant and in the process of starting production.”
“The biggest joint investment between us and Russia”
Noting that a nuclear power plant with 1200 reactors, each with a power of 4 megawatts, was being built in Akkuyu, President Erdoğan shared the following evaluations:
“Like many important projects of Turkey, Akkuyu has been implemented with a financing model that does not burden our national budget. Akkuyu is the biggest joint investment between us and Russia. This project, with an investment value of 20 billion dollars, was designed and built by ROSATOM, the related institution of Russia. Along with the construction of the project, the responsibility of the maintenance, operation and decommissioning processes, which are of great importance for nuclear power plants, belongs to the contractor. All units of the power plant will be put into service gradually until 2028. 10% of our country's electricity consumption will be provided by this power plant alone. When full capacity is activated, approximately 35 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity will be produced here annually. Undoubtedly, even with this feature alone, our power plant deserves the title of strategic investment with its unique contribution to the energy supply security of our country. This project, which will contribute 1,5 billion dollars annually to the decrease in our natural gas imports, will also have a positive impact on the increase in our national income.”
Expressing that the knowledge and experience here will carry Turkey to different places in the nuclear field in the future, President Erdoğan said that the engineers and technicians who will be trained in Russia as part of the project and will work at the power plant will enrich Turkey's manpower in the field of nuclear power. President Erdoğan stated that more than 300 Turkish engineers are trained in this field in Russia.
“Safety is our top priority”
Emphasizing that safety is their top priority while the power plant built in Akkuyu is being planned and implemented, President Erdoğan said:
“The fact that our power plant was not affected by the February 6 earthquakes shows how meticulously our engineers and workers perform their jobs. Our power plant meets the requirements of the International Atomic Agency, the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group and the European Union, as well as the legislation of our country in this area. In the light of our experience in this project, I hope we will take action as soon as possible for our 2nd and 3rd nuclear power plants that we plan to build in our different regions. We will always remember with gratitude the solidarity shown by our companies that carry out the Akkuyu project and work here as contractors, by protecting our earthquake victims after the 6 February disaster. And I would like to express my special thanks on behalf of my nation for the field hospital that Russia established in Hatay. I wish that the delivery of the nuclear fuel rods, which is the final stage of the pre-production preparations of our Akkuyu project, to the nuclear power plant site will be beneficial once again. In the joy of our power plant starting production, I offer my love and respect to you, this time to meet face to face.”
Later, the atomic flag was hoisted for peace, which is the symbol of Akkuyu's gaining the status of a nuclear facility.