Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom Corp. is in talks to sell a 49% stake in the $25 billion power plant it’s building in Turkey. Discussions are currently underway with Turkish and foreign investors, Anton Dedusenko, chairman of the board at the Rosatom subsidiary responsible for the Akkuyu plant, told Bloomberg in an interview on the sidelines of the Nuclear Power Plants Expo & Summit in Istanbul.
“The closer we are to the first unit generating electricity, the more investors start coming,” he said.
A previous effort to sell the stake fell through in 2018 when a consortium of Turkish firms – Cengiz Holding AS, Kolin Insaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret AS and Kalyon Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret AS – pulled out, citing an inability to agree on commercial terms.
The first unit at the 4.8-gigawatt facility, which will be Turkey’s first nuclear plant, is currently undergoing tests and is expected to start supplying power in 2026, Dedusenko said.
“I’m confident that by the end of the year we will have the systems which are necessary to inject electricity into the grid ready,” he added.
The project has been beset by delays and financing problems because foreign banks fear exposure to US penalties, forcing Turkey and Russia to seek alternative ways to pay for construction including a natural gas swap.
“There are many ways how to deliver money here,” Dedusenko said. “We can deliver the Russian rubles, the Turkish lira.”
(Bloomberg, July 1, 2025)
