Russia may seek to replicate a nuclear contract model agreed to with Turkey, allowing it to own and operate the atomic plants it builds in other countries, Bloomberg reported.
The former Soviet state, which plans to construct and manage Turkey's first nuclear facility, may seek similar deals elsewhere, according to Russian reactor builder ZAO Atomstroyexport. The Turkish accord hinges on a commitment from that nation's government to guarantee long-term power sales from the plant, Atomstroyexport's First Vice President Timur Ivanov said today in an e-mailed statement.
Such contracts allow the country providing the technology to exercise more oversight over plant safety and non-proliferation. Nations including Russia, the U.S. and France formed a 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group in 1974 to boycott the sale of atomic material to India after it used non-weapons specific nuclear equipment to make a bomb.
State-run Atomstroyexport has teamed up with Moscow-based utility OAO Inter RAO UES and Park Teknik AS, Turkey's biggest privately held coal producer, to build four 1,200-megawatt reactors in the Mediterranean nation. The project may cost $20 billion and is subject to a 15-year power-supply contract, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said last week.