Environmentally disputed Turkish nuclear plant project vows to protect seals, turtles

A controversial environmental assessment report for the Akkuyu nuclear plant in the southern province of Mersin has vowed to protect Mediterranean monk seals and loggerhead sea turtles living in the sea near the plant, the water of which will be used to cool the plant’s reactors.

The 3,600-page Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) report, which had to be revised after being returned three times over the past two years, states that the water needed to cool the four-reactor plant will be supplied from Mediterranean Sea and will be poured back to sea, but claims that this process does not pose any danger to any species living in the habitat.

Turkey’s first planned 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, being built by Russia’s Rosatom, is already falling behind schedule, with the first reactor unlikely to be operational by 2019 as planned.

The latest ÇED report penned by Rosatom, which requires approval from Turkish authorities, was submitted to the Environment Ministry in April for the fourth time. The ministry has been keeping the report under wraps for the past two months, drawing concerns from environmentalists.

The report stated that the spread and distribution of cooling water in the sea will be carried out according to a three-dimensional “Hydrodynamic Convection Model,” prepared by a scholar at Ankara’s Gazi University.

According to this model, the discharge of the cooling water is predicted to cause a rise in water temperature of 0.5 degrees Celsius at the most.

“The 0.5-degree heat increase that will arise according to this modelling study will not cause any negativity for various species such as phytoplankton and algae, the zooplankton population crucial for local fishing, the...