This is a relatively unknown aspect of Russian-Turkish relations: the first Akkuyu nuclear power plant, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s flagship project, which is due to take office next year, has been under construction since 2018 in the south of the country. , in the province of Mersin. It is a plant that was created thanks to an agreement signed in 2010 between the Turkish and Russian governments, and which is entirely owned by Russian companies. Its (very) majority shareholder is none other than the Russian public giant, Rosatom.
This plant is nevertheless presented as a major national project, aimed at reducing Turkey’s dependence on energy: the country imports almost all the gas it consumes, a third of which is used to produce electricity. Even if the country has been seeking in recent years to diversify its sources of supply, its main supplier remains by far Russia, which supplied it with 45% of its gas last year.
With its nuclear power plant, Turkey will no doubt be able to do without some of these imports, but it will continue to pay billions to Russia. Under the agreement signed in 2010, Ankara will be obliged to buy from Moscow at least 50% of the electricity produced by the plant for 15 years. For Özgür Gürbüz, a journalist specializing in environmental issues, Turkey is therefore far from reducing its dependence on Russia: “Turkey will have to pay at least 32 billion dollars for 15 years for the electricity produced by this plant. In other words, Turkey will have to pay about $2 billion a year to Russia for the Akkuyu plant alone, in addition to what it pays for gas.“
Launched four years ago, the work is progressing quickly. The Turkish authorities are hopeful of starting up the first reactor next year. In any case, this is the objective of the government. Work has also advanced or has just begun on two other reactors. But even if Turkey refuses, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, to join the Western sanctions against Russia, the latter could complicate the continuation of the project: “We know that Rosatom is in trouble, says Özgür Gürbüz. Finland recently canceled a contract for the construction of a power plant. Rosatom must therefore try to find new funding at a time when its income is falling. As for Akkuyu, it is clear that Russia wants to start the plant as soon as possible, to start benefiting from the high guaranteed incomes that Turkey has promised it. But the sources of financing may be more difficult to find to complete the construction, in particular that of the fourth reactor which has not yet started.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also insists on starting up the plant next year, in 2023, the year of the centenary of the Republic of Turkey… and an election year during which the Turkish president will celebrate his 20 years in power. and will challenge his mandate.