Nikolai Kuzelev, an expert of the nuclear section of the State Duma of the Russian Federation:

 — Russia has won the tender in Turkey that has always been west-oriented

On July 14 the Turkish parliament ratified the Russian-Turkish agreement on construction of the first NPP in the country. The agreement was signed on May 12, 2010 in Ankara. Russia and Turkey will hereunder cooperate in the field of construction and operation of the NPP in Akkuyu in south Mersin province. After entry of this agreement into effect the Russian party will start the project campaign. The future NPP capacity is expected to be 4,800 mW that is equal to 14% of today capacity generated by Turkey.

Nikolai Kuzelev, an expert of the nuclear section of the State Duma of the Russian Federation:

The serious work done has taken effect. The fact that we’ve won the tender in Turkey is very important. Indeed, this is a traditionally west-oriented country. And we’ve had no less than 5 world leading companies as competitors. But it is Russia who has won. I think that the Turks began to understand what was expedient. Our major efforts proved that despite recessionary phenomena our plants all over the world were quite able to meet competition and the Turks appreciated it.

The point is that everyone construct with the same speed. And it’s not free. Then here we’ve won due to the value-for-money ratio. As the main thing for our nuclear scientists is safety. As far as I can gather, if in Bulgaria there is an operating nuclear power plant constructed by us and we’re also by their side there is no point for them in cooperation with Westinghouse of Japanese version. I mean from the technical point of view.

By this victory Rosatom will actually ensure the work load for enterprises of related sectors and improve its image for our potential customers. And the Turks in their turn will fix the power supply problem.