Turkey's radioactive waltz with Russia ends
By Taylan Bilgic
Energy-hungry Turkey's nuclear flirtation with Russia came to a painful end
last week when the government, under pressure from many fronts, canceled the
September 2008 tender that awarded the contract to build and operate the
country's first nuclear power plant to Russia's Atomstroyexport and its
domestic partners.
Turkey plans to build two nuclear power plants, one in the Black Sea Sinop
region and the second in Akkuyu, near the town of Mersin, on the Mediterranean
coast.
The cancellation of the outcome of last year's controversial selection for the
latter site came as a shock to many, including the Justice and Development
Party (AKP) government itself.
Atomstroyexport, a state-owned Russian company known for its
involvement in building Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, submitted the only
bid to build and operate the Akkuyu plant. Five other companies - Atomic Energy
of Canada, Suez-Tractabel (France/Belgium), Unit Investment (the Netherlands),
and Hattat-Hema, and Ak Enerji from Turkey - expressed interest, but all
declined to submit bids. Instead, they asked the Turkish government to extend
the deadline for doing so, to give them more time to prepare.
Pressure builds
As the government stuck to its deadline, the year-long debate over Turkey's
nuclear energy policy heated up. Atomstroyexport and its local partners failed
to get the green light from either the regulators or the courts due to
grumbling over Turkey's perceived energy dependency on Russia and an
ever-strengthening environmentalist movement in both Akkuyu and Sinop.
The perceived high price for which Atomstroyexport proposed to sell electricity
to Turkey - it initially requested 21.16 US cents per kilowatt/hour,
subsequently reduced to "between 15.3 and 13.4 cents" - complicated the issue
further.
A November 9 decision by the State Council, Turkey's top court, was the
beginning of the end for the Russians. The court granted a motion for a "stay
of execution" regarding the regulation of the tender. Many commentators,
including Mehmet Soganci, chairman of the Union of Chambers of Turkish
Engineers and Architects, said that was the day when the initial pick was
effectively thrown into the dustbin.
"The State Council has made the tender invalid," Soganci said in a press
statement.
On November 16, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz hinted that the cabinet would
annul last year's process and launch a new "double tender" for both Akkuyu and
Sinop early next year. Finally, on November 20, TETAS, the public company
responsible for wholesale electricity trade and contracting, hammered the last
nail into the coffin, announcing that the tender had been canceled for good.
'Double dependency'?
Many experts expressed relief at the court decision, even though Turkey's
electricity demand is rising by 8% each year.
"Energy resources are not just commodities being sold and bought in the market;
they also have strategic openings," said Emre Iseri, an academic at the
department of international relations at Istanbul's Kadir Has University. "A
key aspect of energy security is diversification of resources, that is, not
being dependent on a single source and center of supply."
Iseri described Turkey's investment in nuclear energy as "a positive step" but
at the same time pointed out that "a company under control of the Kremlin"
poses a great risk.
"Turkey is 70% dependent on Russian natural gas," Iseri said. "Giving the
nuclear tender to Russia would mean a double dependency. One has to take into
consideration that Moscow is using energy as a foreign policy tool. So
accepting the outcome of last year's tender [would have meant] that Turkey
would have a hard time making policy without Russia's approval."
Approval of the tender would have strengthened the perception that "power is
shifting from the West to the East," according to Andrew Reed, an analyst at
the US-based Energy Security Analysis Inc. "Turkey is improving relations with
some neighbors at the risk of deteriorating relations with the others," Reed
said. "The policy is not without risks. But if Turkey plays its hand well, it
stands to reap benefits, including enhancing its energy security."
For such enhancement, Turkey should "diversify the sources of supply,"
according to Iseri. "Let us not forget that the United States, which lauds the
liberal economy at every opportunity, chose Chevron over China's CNOOC in the
2005 tender for Unocal, even though the Chinese company offered a higher
price."
Taylan Bilgic is managing editor of the Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.
Copyright (c) 2009, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC
20036
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
