The deal for the project on a
build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis was signed between Turkish Prime minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his
Japanese counterpart
Shinzo Abe in May 2013. The project would have been carried out by
Atmea, a joint venture consortium of Japanese
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and French
Areva. Turkey, being geographically on a highly active earthquake-prone zone, relies on top-level safety know-how and experience of Japanese experts against earthquakes. MHI and
Itochu planned to build the power plant, which would have a capacity of around 4,480 MWe. Four
generation III pressurized water reactors (PWR) of type
ATMEA1 developed by Atmea would have been installed in the nuclear plant. Four
Atmea reactor would have been used, to enter service from 2023 to 2028. It was projected that the first unit of Sinop plant would be active by 2023, and the fourth unit would enter service by 2028. As of April 2018, the estimated project cost grew to more than $46 billion. In 2018 an
environmental impact assessment application was submitted to the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry. Location and construction licenses are still to be obtained from the Turkey Atomic Energy Agency. In April 2018,
Nikkei reported that Itochu would withdraw from the project, while MHI and other investors were continuing the feasibility study through the summer of 2018. In 2018 the project was abandoned due to construction costs having almost doubled to about $44 billion, largely because of
post-Fukushima safety improvements and the fall in the value of the
Turkish lira. Indicating that the feasibility study prepared by Japan did not conform with both the expense and the timeframe of the first deal, Turkey stated that Japan and Turkey had agreed to discontinue cooperation in January 2020. In September 2020, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization approved the final
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of Sinop Nuclear Power Plant. In 2020 Turkey stated it may hold discussions with other possible suppliers. Talks with China, Russia and South Korea were ongoing in 2023. In 2023 negotiations started with
Rosatom for the construction of a large-scale plant with four power units. However in 2025,
South Korea and the Turkish government signed multiple economic cooperation agreements, including the Sinop plant. ==See also==