The decision by Turkey and Japan to restart exclusive bilateral negotiations for a $20-billion tender for the development of a second nuclear power plant on the Sinop site was announced in early May, as a part of the government’s plans to lessen its dependence on imported energy. The agreement aims to strengthen Turkey’s already ambitious nuclear efforts, consisting of an agreement with a Russian consortium for the development of 4 VVER-1200 reactors near town of Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. With the 1st of the four VVER reactors expected to be operational your time before 2023, this decision marks further progress along these lines, and while this has raised some concerns within the context of ongoing tension with Iran over its nuclear programme, Turkey’s current trajectory doesn’t suggest a rustic keen to procure a reactor with a view to gain a nuclear-weapons capability. Instead, Ankara’s actions seem like in keeping with it historical method of nuclear energy.

Turkey’s historic energy poverty has fuelled the country’s ambitions to set up nuclear power plants for with regards to five decades. Despite the hampering of its efforts over this era by political instability and unrealistic tender demands, Ankara has continued to advocate for the construction of nuclear energy, arguing that the procurement of reactors is significant to national economic growth.