Candu Energy and TÜNAŞ sign feasibility agreement for nuclear power plant

Candu Energy, a subsidiary of Canada's AtkinsRéalis, signed a feasibility and preliminary design engineering agreement with state-owned Türkiye Nükleer Enerji A.Ş. (TÜNAŞ) for the nuclear power plant planned to be built in Türkiye.

According to Reuters, the parties signed the "CANDU Feasibility and Preliminary Design Engineering Memorandum of Agreement" at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya. The agreement aims to examine the project in technical and commercial detail, from feasibility studies through to the preliminary design engineering phase, and to set out a roadmap. Its scope covers the talks being conducted for a six-unit plant with a total capacity of 4.5 gigawatts.

That capacity is close to the 4.8 gigawatts of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom is building in Mersin. On 11 November, Rosatom announced that it was very close to commissioning Akkuyu's first reactor.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar visited Canada in early March, during which TÜNAŞ and Candu Energy signed a memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy cooperation. Canadian officials came to Türkiye in October, the two NATO allies elevated their relations to the level of strategic partnership, and CANDU reactor technology was proposed for a second plant after Akkuyu.

Speaking about the agreement, Bayraktar said that "the maximum participation of our domestic industry in the process and the development of our qualified human resources" were the most critical and indispensable dimensions of the process for them. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, design work is to be carried out throughout 2028, and a final investment decision is then expected. AtkinsRéalis forecasts that the plant will produce its first electricity in 2036.