Turkey's deputy premier says Turkey wants to start operating nuclear plant as soon as possible

ANKARA (A.A) - Turkey's deputy prime minister said on Saturday that Turkey was eager to start operating nuclear power plant as soon as possible. Ali Babacan said that there would not be any change in Turkey's determination for construction of a nuclear power plant as new reactors would be used. "Turkey wants nuclear power plant to be constructed and start operation as soon as possible," Babacan told Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper in an exclusive interview ahead of his visit to this country. Babacan said Turkey was willing to start negotiations with Japan and reach an agreement that would satisfy both parties. The minister said the design and construction phases of the project would last at least six or seven years. Commenting on developments in Syria, Babacan said Turkey was planning to impose new sanctions if Bashar al-Assad regime continued to resort to violence against its own people. Babacan said Turkey did not want to see any military operation on Syria, but was assessing all scenarios. Moreover, Babacan said Turkey's year-end growth would be around 7-8 percent, and if Turkey managed to grow 8 percent this year, it would be the second country among G-20 members that grew the most, following China. Turkey is planning to build two nuclear power plants in the north and south in the next decade.      In May 2010, Turkey and Russia signed a deal for construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, a small town on the Mediterranean coast, which is expected to cost about 20 billion USD. Russian state-owned atomic power company ROSATOM is likely to start building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in 2013 and the first reactor is planned to generate electricity in 2018.      Turkey and Japan resumed talks on construction of Turkey's second nuclear power plant in Sinop on July 31.      Turkey has been engaged in talks with Japan since last year to build country's second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea coastal province of Sinop in the north. However, talks were interrupted after the massive earthquake that hit Japan last March.      Japan's magnitude-9 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima.