Construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under a limited license began in Turkey on Sunday, TASS reported from the site.

The ceremony was in Mersin. It featured Rosatom’s head Alexei Likhachev, and Turkey’s First Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez.

The limited license is the first permission, which Rosatom received in October. Under it, the company will build the so-called non-nuclear facilities.

It was reported earlier that Rosatom expects to receive the full license for the NPP in the first quarter of 2018.

The construction project of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey is being implemented based on the Intergovernmental Agreement signed between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey in Ankara in May 2010. The project, estimated at $20 bln, stipulates the construction of four power units with VVER-1200 reactors with total capacity of 4,800 MW

Turkey will issue a full license to Rosatom for construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in March 2018, Fatih Donmez told a news conference on Sunday.

"In March of next year we shall issue a license for the full works at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant," he said. "We continue very intensively building of the first reactor and hope it will be ready in 2023. We shall do everything possible to speed up our cooperation with the Russian counterparts.".