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‘Turkey should keep up with world in nuclear energy’
The Atayol Group operates in various fields, ranging from nuclear energy to deep sea mining and the natural gas and oil trade both in Turkey and abroad. Tunga is one of two private sector representatives who accompanied Energy Minister Taner Yıldız during the recent renewal of the Yumurtalık pipeline project contract.
He said Turkey, like all European countries, should also have nuclear power plants, adding that opposition to the establishment of such plants are very “hard to understand.”
Plans are under way to construct Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Büyükeceli, located in Gülnar, Mersin province. Some circles in the country strongly oppose the establishment of the plants, claiming that they will inflict severe damage on the environment. Tunga said he disagrees with French Green Hélène Flautre, who also serves as the co-chairperson of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee and who termed Turkey’s efforts to set up nuclear power plants as “craziness.”
“France produces 25 percent of nuclear power in the world with its 56 nuclear power plants. It uses 76 percent of the electricity it produces from nuclear plants and consumes the cheapest electricity of Europe. If it had not been for the nuclear power plants, France would not be what it is today. In addition, if there had been concerns about safety and the environment, a nuclear power plant would not have been established 70 kilometers away from Paris. France is known as the country with the most advanced nuclear technology in the world,” Tunga explained.
Noting that the world is rapidly heading toward third and fourth-generation power plants, Tunga said nuclear power plants have zero emissions, in a bid to address concerns raised about the environment. “The only problem with nuclear power plants is the waste. When the waste of nuclear power plants is compared to waste produced by other power plants, it turns out to be very little because technology is advancing. While a nuclear power plant produced 1,000 barrels of waste a year in the past, this figure has been lowered to 40 barrels thanks to the use of plasma technology. The real damage to the environment comes from coal and natural gas plants,” Tunga said.
He complained that Turkey is the only country among developed and developing countries that does not own a nuclear power plant, adding that he is disturbed by some circles giving Australia as an example in a counter-argument to this statement.
“The reason is simple. The surface area of this country, which has a population of 22 million, is 10 times Turkey’s surface area. Putting this aside, China plans to set up 150 power plants and India 116 power plants by 2050. During the same period, Russia plans to cover 35 percent of its electricity needs with nuclear power plants. This data alone show how crucial of a role nuclear power plants will play in the near future,” Tunga explained.
According to him, Turkey can strategically cooperate with two countries, France and Japan, to establish its own power plants. “If political circumstances can be made ripe, strategic cooperation particularly with France will be very fruitful,” he said.
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