The groundbreaking ceremony of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant took place on 4 April 2018. This development paves the way for Turkey to take part among the countries with nuclear power. So, what is the situation in the EU, of which we are candidate of and in a process of aligning to its standards? IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu evaluated the current situation in the EU concerning nuclear energy:

“With the construction of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, Turkey will join the group of countries that have nuclear power. This is an important development for Turkey to be able to diversify the energy sources available in Turkey. As it is known, nuclear energy is a highly critical source of energy, and within the the EU, we see that the 30 per cent of the electricity is generated in nuclear plants. There are currently 130 nuclear reactors operating in 14 Member States. In the EU, it is up to the Member States themself to decide whether they would set up nuclear power plants or not. Although the EU does not intervene in this regard, still the EU standards play an important role, especially in terms of nuclear energy security.”

Chairman Zeytinoğlu stated that nuclear energy is a part of the EU’s long term decarbonisation goals, and recalled the responsibility laid on the Member States with regards to preference for the utilisation of nuclear energy:

“The EU is very sensitive about the safe use of nuclear energy. The EU has a set of standards that have been established under Euratom to date in some areas such as the safety of nuclear installations, protection against radiation, radioactive waste management as well as protection of nuclear facilities against malicious attacks. However, the Fukushima accident that took place in Japan in 2011 was a milestone for the EU. As it can be remembered, Germany had decided to shut down its nuclear power plants until 2029. In addition to this, the key developments among the EU circsles have been the urgent stress testing to assess the safety of power plants in the Member States and the revision of Nuclear Safety Directive in 2014. Now nuclear security in the EU means the fulfilment of security standards at all stages, starting with the installation of a nuclear power plant, regularly monitoring of these infrastructures, and sharing more information with the public. Under the energy chapter of Turkey-EU accession negotiation framework –which unfortunately could not be opened because of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus’ veto- there exists various rules regarding nuclear energy and nuclear safety. In this respect, as long as the EU standards are fully regarded, I believe that Turkey’s transitions to nuclear energy would strengthen the EU in the energy field.”