The Turkish government recently approved a budget of TL 36 Million ( 9.5 Million USD) to support a shortlist of selected companies that are members of the future nuclear supply chain.
Within this project, domestic companies are expected to become nuclear suppliers, and to benefit from the 60 Billion USD investments in the Turkish nuclear program.
The Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO) acquired a building dedicated to the training of these companies in its industrial zone, located in Sincan (Ankara). Here, the selected companies will be trained to manufacture parts used in the construction under Russian supervision. The training program includes important topics such as quality, control certificate, and radiation protection for personnel working in nuclear power plant construction.
The government has included nuclear power plants as “priority investments” that benefit from state encouragement. Mersin, Sinop, Tekirdag are the key cities close to the projects that offer a market of 60 billion USD investments. Turkish firms will also have an active role in both material production and control of nuclear power plants.
60 local companies
Within the scope of the program, only sixty domestic companies are willing to work in the nuclear power plant projects. At this stage the main problem is the certification of such companies that do not grasp the technical, quality and safety requirement from the EPC and the safety authority.
However, in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, concrete steps are being taken by Istanbul, Kocaeli, Ankara and Adana Chambers of Industry to source the supply of material and to train local factories. For the first time in Turkey, nuclear education will enter the curriculum at the high school level, while domestic companies hope to take an active role in three power plants to be built in Akkuyu, Sinop and İğneada.
ASO President Nurettin Özdebir indicated that Turkey wants to create this cluster of 60 companies to attract most of the investment in the Turkish nuclear program and to export to the 150 reactors that are planned to be build worldwide.
