Turkey turns to nuclear for future energy needs

• 12 reactors planned by 2050
• Meeting up to 15% of energy needs
• First comes online in 2026

Nuclear power is set to play an increasing role in Turkey’s energy mix over the coming years, employing a combination of large-scale facilities and standalone reactors to be deployed by the middle of the century, according to a senior minister. 

By 2050, Turkey will operate 12 large reactors, at power stations at Akkuyu in the south-west, Sinop on the Black Sea and in the European region of the country, minister of energy and natural resources Alparslan Bayraktar told the Istanbul Chamber of Industry on November 26. 

The first reactor of the Akkuyu facility, being built by the Russian energy company Rosatom, is due to come online next year, with full capacity to be deployed by 2028.

These power stations, each with a capacity of around 4,800 megawatts, are central to Turkey’s efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for electricity. The minister also flagged the rollout of a series of small modular reactors to be built at locations across the country to meet localised energy needs. 

“I believe that the strength and dynamism of our industrialists in Turkey can make Turkey one of the countries that develops and produces this technology in small modular reactors,” Bayraktar said.

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Nuclear energy will meet up to 15 percent of Turkey’s power needs in the future, he said.

Last month, the CEOs of Turkish state-owned energy company Türkiye Nükleer Enerji AŞ and the Korea Electric Power Corporation of South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding setting out terms for co-operation for the development of nuclear power plant projects.

While no projects have yet been formalised, the MoU suggests South Korea could play a leading role in Turkey’s future energy programme.