Overview

• Speaking after a cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will begin producing electricity from Akkuyu’s first unit in the very near future and noted that additional nuclear projects are under discussion.
• Akkuyu is Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, a four‑unit project using Russian VVER‑1200 Generation III+ reactors built by Rosatom under a build‑own‑operate model.
• At the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar reiterated an official plan to launch the first Akkuyu reactor in 2026.
• Bayraktar met Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev in Moscow to discuss project implementation as part of ongoing Turkey–Russia nuclear cooperation.
• Turkish officials frame nuclear power as essential for energy security and technology localization, with plans calling for at least 12 conventional reactors plus small modular reactors.