Westinghouse Electric Company, China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) and Turkey's state-owned electric power company, EÜAS, have agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations to develop and construct a four-unit nuclear power plant in Turkey.
The project, which would be Turkey's third nuclear power plant, will 'be based on AP1000 reactor technology,' Westinghouse said. The agreement also covers operations, nuclear fuel, maintenance, engineering, plant services and decommissioning.
Westinghouse has been working with SNPTC on AP1000 technology transfer and the localisation of AP1000 technologies in China since December 2007. In October 2009, the companies signed an agreement to co-develop and refine the AP1000 to create the CAP1400, a bigger (1530 MWe) version of the AP1000 (1250 MWe) with independent intellectual property.
While Westinghouse is expected to have limited involvement in CAP1400 projects within China, it will still have a stake in CAP1400 export projects, Tim Collier, Westinghouse vice president and managing director for China said in April.
In addition to the proposed third nuclear power plant, Turkey is planning a four-unit nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, based on Russia's VVER-1200 reactor technology. This project, which could start construction in 2015, will be build by Rosatom under its build, own, operate model. Four more AREVA/MHI's Atmea 1 reactors are also proposed for construction at Sinop. No site has been specified for the proposed third nuclear plant.
