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Turkey: no plans for nuclear cooperation with Iran

Türkiye Materials 16 November 2011 16:17 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey has no plans for cooperation with Iran to build nuclear power plants, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told
Turkey: no plans for nuclear cooperation with Iran

Turkey has no plans for cooperation with Iran to build nuclear power plants, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters on Wednesday, a day after a senior Iranian official had floated the possibility Todayszaman reported

Mohammad Javad Larijani, a foreign affairs adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khameini told Reuters in New York on Tuesday, that Tehran was willing to share its nuclear technology with neighboring countries, suggesting it could help Turkey build an atomic power plant.

The United States, European Union and their allies suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons and, along with the UN Security Council, have imposed sanctions to try to stop it from enriching uranium. But Tehran says its nuclear program is to generate electric power and refuses to halt it.

"Iran developed a very sophisticated nuclear science and technological capability, which we are quite ready to share with ... neighboring countries and friendly countries in the region," the official, Mohammad Javad Larijani, said. "Turkey is for years trying to have a nuclear power plant but no country in the West is willing to build that for them."

Turkey has ambitious plans to build up a civil nuclear production capability and has been in talks with Russia and Japan about it. Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is is among the firms interested in a Turkish deal.

Last year Turkey awarded Russia's Atomstroyexport a contract for the country's first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu on the country's Mediterranean coast.

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