Leading French companies have offered Turkey to build what should become the country's third nuclear power plant, with projects for two other underway.

The news has been announced by Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, as cited by Turkish paper Today's Zaman. Yildiz told reporters that leading French energy companies Areva, GDF and EDF are interested in the proposed project. He did not elaborate on the details of the project, but said talks with French authorities are continuing.

Tekirdag in European Turkey and the capital Ankara are the most likely locations for Turkey's third NPP, according to an unnamed official sources cited by Today's Zaman and BTA.

Earlier in 2010, in May, Turkey reached an agreement with Russia for the construction of what will become Turkey's first nuclear power plant in Mersin's Akkuyu district.

According to the agreement, Russia's state-run Atomstroyexport JSC will construct four 1000 MW reactors at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, and will have a controlling stake in the project. The project is estimated to cost about billion and was approved by Turkey's Parliament in mid-July.

Turkey's Akkuyu NPP is viewed in Bulgaria as a competitor to the potential second Bulgarian NPP at Belene on the Danube where Atomstroyexport is supposed to construct two 1000 MW reactors.

After months of talks, at the end of 2010 Japan appeared to have grabbed from South Korea a deal for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey, which should become Turkey's second, to be located in Sinop on the Black Sea.

South Korea and Turkey began formal talks in March and were expected to reach an intergovernmental agreement during last month's G20 summit in Seoul, but a deal was not reached due to outstanding differences such as establishing "fair" electricity prices, according to the report.

Turkey began negotiating with Japan on the construction of a nuclear power plant in the province of Sinop, in the Black Sea region, at the beginning of December of this year after talks with South Korea failed last month when the two sides failed to reach a common understanding on issues such as price and purchasing guarantees and the state's share.

Turkey's potential third NPP in Tekirdag or Anakara is expected to be ready by 2023. Analysts have commented that Turkey wants to become independent of electricity imports, which is why it is planning the construction of nuclear reactors with a combined power of 5 000 MW.

Turkey's first two NPP projects are expected to cost USD 40 B in total; no estimate has been mentioned with respect to the French offer for a third NPP.

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