Turkey has formally inaugurated its first nuclear power plant, which was financed by Russia and built by Rosatom, a Russian state-owned nuclear energy company.
“Turkey has joined the club of nuclear energy-producing nations–albeit after a 60-year delay,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an April 27 inauguration ceremony, which he addressed via video link.
The ceremony, during which the first batch of nuclear fuel arrived at the reactor, was attended by the Turkish and Russian energy ministers and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Located in Turkey’s southern Mersin province, the $20 billion Akkuyu nuclear energy project will be able to meet roughly 10 percent of the country’s total demand for electricity, according to project leaders….