The World Nuclear Association has welcomed the start of general construction work at the site of the planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant, following confirmation by Alexey Likhachov, director-general of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. Speaking to journalists last week at the 61st regular session of the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna, Likhachov said work on Turkey's first nuclear power plant project was underway, including the hydraulic facilities, the Daily Sabah reported.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has concluded a five-day Site and External Events Design mission to Turkey, which plans to build its first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu in Mersin Province. The first of four 1200 MWe Russian VVER units is scheduled to receive its operational licence in 2023.

A consortium of Turkish companies yesterday signed an agreement with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom on the main conditions for acquiring a 49% stake in JSC Akkuyu Nuclear, the company that will build and operate Turkey's first nuclear power plant.

JSC Akkuyu NPP, the Russian-owned company responsible for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, has been awarded a 49-year electricity generation licence. The company received a preliminary licence, enabling it to start investment and permitting procedures for the project, in June 2015. Turkey's energy market regulatory authority said then that JSC Akkuyu NPP would receive a production licence - needed to start generating electricity from the plant - once it met the requirements outlined in that document. The production licence was awarded yesterday.

The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority has moved a step closer to the restart of its TR-2 research reactor, which was shut down in 2009 and converted to use low-enriched uranium fuel. A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency carried out an Integrated Safety Assessment of Research Reactors follow-up mission between 25 and 28 April, which concluded that several safety improvements to TR-2 have been implemented.

Turkey's Council of Ministers has ordered the acquisition of land enabling construction of a 380 kV transmission line for the planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant. The order is contained in three announcements published in the official state gazette on 10 April.

A contract has been signed for the design and construction of offshore hydraulic engineering structures designed to process seawater for cooling Turkey's planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

JSC Akkuyu NPP, the Russian-owned company responsible for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, has been awarded a preliminary licence, enabling the company to start investment and permitting procedures for the project.

A US uranium processing plant could be shipped to Turkey to fast-track uranium production under a newly announced merger of Uranium Resources Inc with Australian uranium and exploration company Anatolia Energy, owner of the Temrezli uranium project.

Turkey's state-run power producer Elektrik Üretim AŞ (EÜAŞ) expects to own up to 49% of the country's second nuclear power plant. EÜAŞ chief executive Halil Alis announced the plan to the Anadolu Agency last week during the 21st International Energy and Environment Fair and Conference in Istanbul.

Government and company officials yesterday launched construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant. The Russian-designed Akkuyu plant in Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast, is the first of three nuclear power plants the country plans to build to help boost its economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuel imports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has approved parliament's ratification of an intergovernmental agreement with Japan to build a nuclear power plant at Sinop, according to a statement on his website yesterday.