Turkiye nuclear plant delayed by withheld parts from Germany, China to supply

The opening of Turkiye’s first nuclear plant has been delayed after Germany’s Siemens Energy ENR1n.DE withheld key parts, prompting Russia’s Rosatom, the builder and owner, to buy them in China, the Turkish energy minister said today according to Reuters.

Siemens’s non-delivery will delay launching the Akkuya power plant’s first reactor by a few months, Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told state-run Anadolu. The decision likely stems from Western sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, he added.

Though Turkiye had initially planned to start up Akkuyu’s first reactor in 2023, delays have pushed that back to next year, with the remaining reactors to come online by the end of 2028.

A Siemens Energy spokesperson confirmed that some parts were not delivered to Turkiye due to German export regulations.

Bayraktar said that Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy company, has already struck deals with Chinese companies to produce equivalent parts, though he provided no company names.

“There are alternatives. Rosatom already ordered alternative parts from Chinese [firms], and they will come from China,” Bayraktar said.

Turkiye could consider fines against Siemens Energy over the delay, even though it has worked with the German company for years, he said.

“This attitude will make us question their position in future projects,” he added.

Rosatom has been building the Akkuyu plant in the Mediterranean province of Mersin under an agreement with Ankara dating back to 2010. The $20 billion, 4,800 megawatt (MW) project includes four reactors, and would bring Turkiye into the small club of nations with civil nuclear energy.

Siemens Energy gave no official reason for withholding the parts, Bayraktar said. It said Turkiye understands that it could be related to sanctions on Moscow. Germany’s sanctions and trade policies appear to be incongruous, he said.

The Siemens Energy spokesperson said: “Some parts were delivered a long time ago, but not for a good year now, due to export/customs licences that have not yet been issued. We must of course comply with the export regulations.”

Turkiye, maintaining close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, opposes the European and US sanctions on Russia, which were imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Turkiye and Russia signed the inter governmental agreement for Akkuyu in 2010. Construction began in 2013 and picked up speed in 2018.

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