Turkish-US venture to build 20 small modular nuclear reactors

Turkey’s IC Holding is planning to deploy up to 20 small modular reactors (SMRs) in Turkey and across the Middle East and Europe in collaboration with US-based ARC Clean Technology.

The long-term plans include up to 10 reactors in Turkey, another 10 across the wider region, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, according to IC Holding’s nuclear technology chair Murad Bayar.

IC Holding and ARC will develop fourth-generation reactor technology, covering technical, economic and regulatory feasibility studies, localisation, licensing and supply chain development.

The ARC-100 is a 100-megawatt (MW) SMR, costing almost $300 million. Final costs will depend on various other factors such as technology maturity and licensing.

The SMRs can potentially be used in data centres, energy-intensive industry, organised industrial zones, petrochemical facilities, mining sites, desalination and regions with limited grid capacity, the report said.

IC and ARC are negotiating a licensing agreement to commercialise the technology across Turkey, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported, quoting Bayar.

Turkey aims to reach 20 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050, including 5,000MW from SMRs, Bayar said.

Last month Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said construction work on the first unit of Turkey’s Akkuyu nuclear project had been completed.

Rosatom, a Russian state-backed nuclear energy company, is developing the 4,800 MW Akkuyu plant for $20 billion.

Further reading:

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• First unit of Turkey’s Akkuyu nuclear plant complete
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