About 30 persons took part in the event. Mr. Uzel made a presentation on the current status of the «Akkuyu» NPP construction project. He told about the advantages of the selected model of project implementation– BOO (build-own-operate). The participants learned that this model is suitable for implementation of the plans of the Republic of Turkey on growth of energy consumption and increase of the national income. «Construction of the first Turkish nuclear power plant is a scaled investment project for Mersin province and Turkey in general. Buyukedzheli village (closest settlement to the construction site), where over 2,000 persons live, will become the modern town with all corresponding infrastructure. Tens of thousands work places will be established in Buyukedzheli at the stage of construction and operation of the station», the Director of PIC mentioned.
The Head of the Association of Tour Operators Hamit Izol after the opening speech expressed gratitude to the director and officers of the Public Information Center for their participation in the meeting. «We see how «Akkuyu» NPP is open in interaction with the public. We face the future with optimism and will try to do so that the touristic industry of the region existed peacefully with the nuclear power plant», Izol noted.
In the process of active discussion questions were asked about the fuel for NPP, its impact on the environment, on the touristic business, about the reasons for
construction, about increase of the sea water temperature, about possible consequences after the earthquake. The Director of PIC answered all questions of the participants of the meeting in details. He noted that Turkey is the second country in the world, after Chine, by growth of the demand for electric power. The territory of the Republic of Turkey in not rich in hydrocarbons and has to export them, which, in its turn, produces a negative effect on the trade balance of the state. The Government stimulates projects with renewable energy sources (RES), and at the same time the task is set to diversify the energy system of the country using the environmentally safe sources – NPP.
«Statements that NPPs produce a negative effect on the touristic industry, have no grounds. I’ll give an example of two countries — France and Spain. These countries attract a lot of tourists every year. Hereby in France the share of NPP in electric power output is the highest in the world – up to 75%. The most expensive agricultural products are manufactured in France. «Akkuyu» NPP will use the sea water for cooling, but hereby the temperature of the water, discharged into the sea, will not increase the values of one degree in summer and two degrees in winter. As for the earthquakes, the region of construction of «Akkuyu» NPP is one of the safest in Turkey from this point of view. Despite all conducted surveys already in the period of selection of the place for the site in 1976, over 600 wells were drilled during the past 1.5 years at the construction site and around it. Seismological surveys, covering 2,000 years, were also held at the site. The most powerful recorded earthquake in the region was with intensity of 7.4 points, hereby the project of the first nuclear power plant ensures reliability of the plant even with the earthquake of 9 points», - Faruk Uzel noted.
After the meeting the Head of the Association of Tour Operators Hamit Izol thanked the Director, specialists of PIC for the conducted presentation and exhaustive answers.