Aksam – The competition to build Turkey’s second nuclear power plant (NPP) has just got hotter as a consortium made up of French and Japanese companies placed their bid for the project, which is estimated to cost up to USD 25 billion.

The consortium of French GDF Suez and Japanese companies Itochu and Mitsubishi, joined other Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and Canadian companies vying to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Sinop on the country’s Black Sea coast, as a sources from GDF Suez and Turkey’s Ministry of Energy confirm initial contact in Ankara last week. The planned 5,000 MW nuclear power plant in Sinop will require an investment of up to USD 25 billion. Turkey does not offer any treasury guarantees for the project, requiring the contenders to shoulder all the financing.

Russia is soon to start constructing Turkey’s first reactor in Akkuyu, in the southern province of Mersin, as per an intergovernmental agreement signed in 2010. Looking to diversify its sources of energy and reduce dependence on imports, Turkey has been in talks with Japan, China, South Korea and Canada for the building and operation of another nuclear power plant in the Black Sea region.

Turkey plans to have three operational NPPs by 2023. Source; IIT