Russian state-owned company, Rosatom Corp, is transferring money to its subsidiary that is building a $20 billion nuclear power plant in Turkey.
Rosatom transferred $5 billion last week and is planning two more similar transactions in the following two weeks for the construction of the project. The company building the power plant, formally known as Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, is the Russian state-owned company’s subsidiary.
Rosatom said in a statement although the construction site is the largest of its kind worldwide, “current transactions are significantly lower” than the figure provided by the Turkish officials. However, the financial arrangements are kept private. The project is financed by Russia’s biggest lenders, Sberbank PJSC and Sovcombank, which have been already sanctioned by the EU and the US. The financing will cover all procurement needs for the Akkuyu project over the next two years. To be noted, Rosatom and its subsidiaries are exempt from sanctions.
An Akkuyu Nuclear JSC representative, as well as Turkey’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance, declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Work on the first reactor, known as Akkuyu 1, began in 2018, with engineers starting on Akkuyu 2 two years later. Work is scheduled to be completed by 2026. However, the war in Ukraine put rising tensions on the project, because of which Rosatom stated, back in March, it would put all its “efforts and resources” into completing the first reactor in 2023. Construction for the fourth reactor started last week as well.
Once all four reactors are operational, the power plant is expected to generate enough to support 10% of Turkey’s ever-growing energy needs.
The leaders of the two countries are expected to hold a talk on August 5th in Sochi.
