Türkiye in talks with US on nuclear power plants, small modular reactors

Türkiye is holding talks with the United States on the construction of large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMR), a senior Energy Ministry official said Tuesday.

“The U.S. is showing serious interest in Türkiye’s goal of increasing its nuclear energy capacity and building new power plants,” the official Yusuf Ceylan told Reuters at a conference on nuclear power plants.

Asked about the projects under discussion, he said: “We can consider the areas of existing power plants or new power plants.”

“We are negotiating with the U.S. for both large-scale power plants and small modular reactors. This is a statement of intent,” he said.

Jeff Flake, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye, told Reuters last month that Ankara “talked to us and others about (building) small modular reactors”.

“We’re working with them to try to lessen their dependency (on Russia) in whatever ways we can,” he added.

Ceylan said negotiations continued with South Korea and Russia for a second nuclear power plant planned to be built in the Black Sea region of Sinop, and with China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) for a third nuclear power plant in northwest Türkiye’s Thrace region.

The construction of Türkiye’s first 4,800 MW nuclear power plant by Russia’s Rosatom is continuing at Akkuyu in Türkiye’s Mediterranean region.

Türkiye plans to build three four-reactor nuclear plants and complement them with SMRs for a total of 20,000 MW generation capacity to diversify its electricity production mix.