Turkey Plans to Build Nuclear Power Plant Close to Border with Bulgaria

Turkey plans to build a nuclear power plant in a district that is 10 km from the country’s border with Bulgaria and about 100 km from Istanbul's western suburbs, it emerged on Wednesday.

Energy Minister Ali Rıza Alaboyun said during a meeting with state-run Anadolu Agency editors on Tuesday that Turkey had selected Igneada district in northwestern Kırklareli province as the location for the country's third nuclear plant project, according to dailysabah.com.

Alaboyun has also said that potential bidders for the project are US-based Westinghouse as well as Chinese companies. Japanese firms have also shown interest in the project.

Igneada district is home to the Igneada Floodplain Forest National Park which encompasses 3,155 ha of marshes, lakes and coastal sand dunes. The location selected for building Turkey’s third nuclear power plant "is likely to raise questions about its environmental impact,” dailysabah.com said.

Turkey agreed with Russia's Rosatom to build four 1,200-megawatt reactors in Akkuyu, in the southern province of Mersin, in 2013 but no start date for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant has been set yet. A second nuclear power plant project, to be located in the northern province of Sinop, was awarded to a Japanese-French consortium in May 2013.