(AGENPARL) – KREMLIN gio 27 aprile 2023

The ceremony was also attended by Director
General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi, Director General
of the Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation Alexei Likhachyov, and Minister
of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkiye Fatih Donmez.

Rosatom is building the nuclear power
plant under a 2010 intergovernmental agreement. The plans include four generating
units with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

* * *

Remarks at the ceremony marking the delivery
of nuclear fuel to power generating unit No. 1 of the Akkuyu NPP

Director
General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi: Distinguished
presidents, distinguished minister, distinguished CEO of Rosatom, dear friends,

Occasions like
this come few and far between. As it was rightly said, Turkiye enters today a new phase in its economic development, a new phase in which the name of the country figures among those who have embraced the promise of atoms of peace,
the promise of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It has been said many times
that the world faces a number of challenges. One of those, of course, is
economic development, moving forward, having the energy to feed our economies
and bring welfare to our people, while doing it in a way that is not harmful
for the environment at a time of global warming and climate change.

Nuclear energy
is a clean source of energy. The four formidable units that I have visited
today will bring no less than 10 percent of clean energy for the country.What a feature for this country in such a short period of time. Of course, nuclear
energy is a complex matter that brings a lot of good and also responsibility.
This is why the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been
associated with this project from the very beginning, by providing technical
assistance, by helping to forge the Turkish workforce that, along with its
Russian partners, is going to be manning this facility, by marking sure that
the Turkish independent regulator will have all the elements to apply the safety and security standards that are required.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Nuclear must
always be a force of good. From nuclear power plants, only good things should
come. And this is why, on this celebratory occasion, I must say that we need
international support; we need everybody’s support to make sure that no nuclear
accidents will emanate from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. We need your
support so that every time we talk about nuclear energy, we will do it in the spirit we are doing it today, here, at Akkuyu: a spirit of hope, a spirit of success.

This republic is
celebrating 100 years this year, and in 100 years, Akkuyu will still be
producing clean nuclear energy for the country. You can count on the IAEA every
step of the way. Thank you very much.

<…>

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural
Resources Fatih Donmez (as translated): Mr.
President, Mr. President of Russia,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Welcome to the ceremony for the delivery of the first nuclear fuel to the Akkuyu NPP.

Where we
are now, we can see how this project has evolved, thanks to our President. In 2010, we signed the Nuclear Power Plant Construction Agreement. The construction
of the four reactors is ongoing. And now we are taking another important step –
for the first time, the first nuclear fuel has been received at the NPP.

Nuclear
power is coming very soon to Turkiye. We hope to start producing electricity in the coming year. We are adding another form of energy to the energy mix in our
country.

Mr. President,
Mr. President of Russia,
ladies and gentlemen,

The Akkuyu
NPP is the largest investment in Turkiye ‘s history that is still underway.
Four reactors will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 80 years.
Approximately 10 percent of our demand will be met by nuclear power. It will
produce 35 billion kilowatt hours. This facility will work for Turkiye for many
years to come; Akkuyu is the next generation for energy sources in Turkiye.

The largest
nuclear power plant in Turkiye is under construction here, and approximately
30,000 people are participating in this project. In addition to construction; the project also includes the electronics, mechanical engineering, and equipment
production sectors, which are all contributing to this project. This nuclear
power plant will be the leader of the next generation of energy production.

Mr
President, Mr President of Russia,

For Turkiye,
Akkuyu means more than just a nuclear power plant. This is the beginning, the starting point of nuclear energy development and production in Turkiye. Our
students are studying in Russia;
500 students have been sent abroad to acquire knowledge and to come back to work here. We will do very quickly what it takes to fully and completely
implement the generation of nuclear energy.

Before I conclude, I want to express my gratitude to our President, I want to express my gratitude to President Putin of Russia
for his help, for his support. I would also like to thank Mr Likhachev, the Director General of Rosatom, and Mr Grossi, the Director General of the IAEA,
who is here, as well as all those who have worked and are working at this
facility, who work long hard hours – I want to thank you for that.

Once again,
I would like to thank the people of Mersin,
especially those who live here, close to the power plant. They have been very
welcoming to all the people who have come here.

I would like to wish success and good luck to all
our people and to our country.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, Mr Grossi, Director
General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, my dear friends.

I would like to sincerely welcome you,
everyone here at this nuclear fuel delivery ceremony at the Akkuyu NPP. I would
like to congratulate you on a new, important stage in the implementation of one
of the largest joint projects in the history of Russian-Turkish relations, as it was just called – the construction of Turkiye’s first nuclear power plant.

I would like to emphasise that this
is a flagship project. It brings mutual economic benefits to both partners and certainly promotes our versatile bilateral cooperation that rests of the principles of friendship, mutual respect and consideration for each other’s
interests.

This is exactly what I discussed
with President Erdogan during our detailed telephone conversation, which just
ended. Naturally, in addition to cooperation in peaceful nuclear energy, we
also discussed other current issues in the development of the entire range of bilateral
relations. A number of fundamentally important agreements have been reached.

The main thing – I will not go into
detail – is that we agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the economy and trade, to encourage the progressive growth of bilateral trade, which exceeded
$62 billion in 2022, and also to encourage the inflow of reciprocal investment,
and to help the business structures of the two countries enter each other’s
markets.

Russia will certainly continue to reliably
provide Turkiye with energy resources, primarily natural gas. By the way, once
Akkuyu is operating at full capacity, we will, of course, probably supply less
natural gas to Turkiye. This is an expensive commodity today, and prices will
only go up, but Turkey
will enjoy the advantage of a country with its own nuclear energy, and as is
well-known, nuclear energy is one of the least expensive sources of energy.

Moreover, we are determined to increase
cooperation in supplying this type of fuel – again, I mean gas – to third
countries. This is also what the proposal to create a regional gas hub in Turkiye
to supply natural gas to interested foreign buyers at market prices is aimed at.

The president of Turkiye and I have
agreed to expand cooperation in agriculture, establish mutual trade in agricultural products and coordinate efforts on international food security.

Mr Erdogan’s initiative on the free
shipment of flour to the countries that need it most is also being worked out. The flour will be produced by the Turkish flour milling industry from grain
supplied by the Russian side.

Both sides expressed interest in further developing tourism. As you know, Turkish resorts are very popular among
Russians, and last year over 5 million Russians visited Turkiye. Of course, it
is important to create favourable conditions for travel between the two
countries, so we have agreed to increase the number of bilateral flights.

I would
also like to reiterate our heartfelt sympathies to Turkiye over the major
earthquake in February that caused many deaths and destruction – we talked
about this on the phone. We are aware of the difficult tasks the government and the President of Turkiye have to resolve in rebuilding infrastructure, housing,
and social facilities, and we are ready to continue to provide our Turkish
partners with the necessary assistance and support.

In particular, we have decided to deliver a large shipment of Russian building
materials to Turkiye in the near future. Of course, Turkiye’s construction
sector is very well developed, and so is its building materials industry, but this
situation is special.

I would
remind you that Russia
was one of the first to send rescue teams and medical personnel to Turkiye, and has deployed a mobile multidisciplinary hospital in one of the most affected
regions, where over 13,000 people have already been treated. And this help, I assure you, is absolutely sincere and disinterested: we are always ready to extend a hand of friendly support to our Turkish partners.

Dear
Friends!

Returning
to the main topic of today’s event, which is dedicated to the supply of nuclear
fuel to Akkuyu Unit 1, I would like to note that in a few minutes our Turkish
colleagues will be receiving the relevant certificate. With this, Turkiye’s
first nuclear power plant will be officially designated as a nuclear facility,
and the flag of the peaceful atom will be raised over the Akkuyu Nuclear Power
Plant.

It is
symbolic that Turkiye is joining the club of industrially and technologically
developed countries that have a nuclear power industry, and it is in 2023 – as you suggested, Mr. President – that Turkiye is celebrating the 100^th
anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye.

I would like
to remind you that Rosatom began building this nuclear power plant in the Turkish province of Mersin on the Mediterranean Sea
exactly five years ago, in April 2018. Mr Erdogan and I took part in a ceremony
to mark that event, and we have been personally monitoring the Akkuyu project
ever since.

Of course,
without the support of the President of Turkiye, I think this would not have
been possible, especially since, as you know, there are always some
administrative difficulties in such large-scale projects, the need to overcome certain
procedures, but all this was done through a cooperative effort.

I would like
to emphasise that Russian and Turkish nuclear specialists – engineers and technicians – are cooperating in a smooth and friendly way, which results in power plant construction
that is in full compliance with the approved schedule. Importantly, as mentioned
earlier, they are simultaneously building all four generation III+ power units, with an aggregate capacity of 4,800
megawatts.

I would
like to emphasise that today this is the biggest nuclear power plant
construction site in the world. Over 20,000 people work here every day. In fact,
it is now approaching 30,000 people and two thirds are Turkish citizens, which should
also be noted. And these are only some of the jobs being created by the Akkuyu project.
This means jobs, salaries, support for families and the like. This is practical
work.

Many Turkish
contractors are taking part in this project. They are involved in the construction, and in supplying materials and components, plus transport and other
services. And much of the equipment for this new nuclear power plant is
domestically sourced in Turkiye. I would like to note that the overall cost of these contracts is $4.2 billion dollars. These are the products that Turkish
industrial companies have already manufactured for the Akkuyu project. The aggregate
total for domestic sourcing is estimated at $6.5 billion.

I would like
to emphasise that as a recognised leader in the peaceful use of nuclear energy,
Rosatom is using the latest engineering designs and technology in building
nuclear power plants. They are based on the highest standards of physical
safety, sanitary and environmental requirements.

The construction
of this nuclear power plant and the preparations for operation are in full compliance
with the IAEA’s rules and recommendations. Mr Grossi, who is attending our ceremony,
has just said that the Akkuyu NPP’s multi-level security system is one of the most
sophisticated and reliable in the world.

To be continued.

Fonte/Source: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71006