(533.5191) Nuclear Awareness Project / WISE Amsterdam - In a stunning front page interview on 24 July in the Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet, Ecevit observed that "The world is abandoning nuclear power." In a public statement following a cabinet meeting a day later, Ecevit stated "It is unnecessary for us, for the time being, to invest in nuclear energy." Ecevit emphasized that Turkey would focus on energy conservation and invest in natural gas and hydro-electricity, as well as solar and wind generation. He further said that the nuclear option could be considered in the future, but that other energy options would be pursued for now.
Ecevit said that the financial burden of the project should not be taken on at the present time given that a national economic reform project had yet to be completed. But he is keeping the option of nuclear open for the future: "A Turkish Atomic Energy Agency report suggests that a natural gas shortage could emerge in 15 to 20 years and overdependence on gas could boost costs. Nuclear power would then become an option and more than one plant would be necessary. It is better if we wait for new generation nuclear technology to be introduced".
Ecevit's statement reflected the fact that most of the world has stopped building new nuclear plants, and has opted for cheaper, cleaner and safer means of generating electricity. Nuclear power has been plagued by high cost, erratic performance, endemic technical problems, the risk of catastrophic accidents, and environmental problems such as routine radiation releases and radioactive waste management. World nuclear power use is expected to peak in 2002, and then begin a period of sustained and permanent decline. Reliable independent cost studies show that nuclear power plants are about twice as expensive to build and operate as high-efficiency natural gas generating plants.
The decision to cancel the Akkuyu project is a serious blow to the three nuclear vendors bidding to build the nuclear plant, and a major setback for the international nuclear industry. Canada's state-owned nuclear company, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) was competing against Nuclear Power International (NPI -- a consortium of the German company Siemens and the French company Framatome), and a third bidder, a partnership of Westinghouse (USA/UK) and Mitsubishi (Japan).
The Akkuyu nuclear plant had sparked an unprecedented groundswell of opposition within Turkey, as well as in the eastern Mediterranean region and around the world (see also WISE News Communique 523.5124: "Akkuyu: decision delayed again; protests gear up"). Turkey's latest attempt to build a nuclear plant at Akkuyu began with a request for preliminary proposals in 1992, although revised bid specifications were not released until December 1996.
Following the final bid deadline of October 15, 1997, Turkey delayed the selection of a vendor no less than eight times between June 1998 and April 2000.
The extraordinarily high cost of nuclear power was the indirect cause of Turkey's decision. This spring, the Turkish Treasury department refused to provide a sovereign (state) financial guarantee (at least initially) for the loans being made by vendor country governments for the nuclear plant, which was costing about US$2.5 billion. In a surprise development, Westinghouse reportedly offered to proceed without a sovereign guarantee. AECL also confirmed that it was willing to proceed without a sovereign guarantee, and was searching for private sector "bridge" financing of US$70 million.
The loss of the Akkuyu contract is a blow to Canadian AECL, a publicly funded federal Canadian crown corporation. AECL has seen its reactor export plans collapse over the last 5 years. As part of a Canadian government program review in 1995, AECL identified a plan to sell "ten reactors in ten years". On the basis of this plan, the Chrétien government committed to provide a US$70 million-per-year subsidy indefinitely to AECL. However, the only sale since that time has been two reactors to China in 1996. Since its founding in 1952, AECL has received subsidies of over US$10 billion from the federal government. In 1997 a leaked cabinet document revealed that the Chrétien government had agreed to provide US$1 billion of government funds in financing for the Akkuyu plant. AECL's bid was for US$2.572 billion for two 700 MW CANDU reactors.
The Akkuyu nuclear plant was opposed for a variety of reasons, including earthquake risk at the site, the possibility that it would contribute to nuclear weapons development, and ongoing human rights abuses in Turkey.
Some of Turkey's most prominent earthquake experts have demanded a halt to the nuclear plant until further research is conducted on the Akkuyu area. The death of over 18,000 people in the Izmit earthquake is a tragic testimony to the human cost of poor planning and inadequate regulation. The Turkish government and the nuclear vendors were accused of conspiring to cover up the real earthquake risk at the Akkuyu site. An earthquake would have been the most likely cause of a catastrophic nuclear accident at Akkuyu. Such an accident could have had devastating consequences for the 165 million people in the eastern Mediterranean region.
The dark underside of nuclear power has always been its potential for nuclear weapons proliferation, either through the production of plutonium -- an inevitable byproduct of reactor operation -- or through the transfer of sensitive nuclear information, technology and materials. Turkey's nuclear program would have fanned the flames of the nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Turkey has already been implicated in nuclear arms aid to Pakistan. An earlier attempt to build an Argentinean-designed reactor was likely aimed at plutonium production for nuclear weapons. Evidence of nuclear smuggling based in Turkey, and Turkey's push for its own nuclear fuel capability and indigenous reactor design, all pointed to possible nuclear weapons development. The support of prominent Turkish citizens for nuclear weapons development has leant credence to this evidence.
Sources:- Nuclear Awareness Project press release, 25 July 2000
- Turkish Daily News, 26 July 2000
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